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Launching Point of Honour at an event celebrating the life and work of Maria Teresa Horta in Lisbon, 10 May 2019

Point of Honour – translations by Lesley Saunders of poems selected by Maria Teresa Horta, renowned Portuguese writer and life-long feminist – is the first anthology of her poetry in English. Lesley was invited to participate in a conference held in Lisbon to celebrate the life and work of Maria Teresa, and to launch the book in front of an international audience of writers and academics. She says:

the conference was fantastic: three days of celebration of Maria Teresa Horta’s work – her journalism, her novels and short stories, and her poetry – by feminists and academics from all over the world and culminating with a series of homages by well-known Portuguese literary and political figures.

The launch of Point of Honour was well-received (I even gave a short speech in Portuguese!) and people seem truly grateful that Teresa’s work will be able to reach a wider audience.

Ana Raquel Fernandes, who wrote the introduction to Point of Honour, invited me to spend the weekend at her family’s seaside home in Santa Cruz, so we were able to relax on the beach after the intensity of the conference.

Here are a just a few of the many photos I took:

The Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira where the conference opened
The Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira where the conference opened
Point of Honour on display in the exhibition of Maria Teresa’s work
The Three Marias in 1974 (Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa), whose ground-breaking work, New Portuguese Letters, was banned by the authorities
The Three Marias in 1974 (Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa), whose ground-breaking work, New Portuguese Letters, was banned by the authorities
Maria Teresa Horta reading a poem she wrote especially for the conference
Maria Teresa Horta reading a poem she wrote especially for the conference
Finally, me with artist and sculptor Francisco Simões, who came to the seminar I gave on my own poetry (at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa the following week). Not only did Francisco present me with a copy of a beautiful book about his commissioned sculptures for the ‘Park of Poets’, but also took care to mention how much he loved the way his painting of the angel had been used in the design of the cover of Point of Honour: Sally Castle, take a bow!
Finally, me with artist and sculptor Francisco Simões, who came to the seminar I gave on my own poetry (at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa the following week). Not only did Francisco present me with a copy of a beautiful book about his commissioned sculptures for the ‘Park of Poets’, but also took care to mention how much he loved the way his painting of the angel had been used in the design of the cover of Point of Honour: Sally Castle, take a bow!

2 thoughts on “Launching Point of Honour at an event celebrating the life and work of Maria Teresa Horta in Lisbon, 10 May 2019

  1. […] Point of Honour  was launched at a conference in Lisbon to celebrate Horta’s life and work – I wrote about the conference here: https://tworiverspress.com/2019/06/23/launching-point-of-honour-at-an-event-celebrating-the-life-and… […]

  2. […] Point of Honour was launched at a conference in Lisbon to celebrate Horta’s life and work – I wrote about the conference here. […]

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