© Homem Cardoso
BIOGRAPHY
Teolinda Gersão is one of Portugal’s most acclaimed contemporary fiction writers, author of an awarded and acclaimed body of novels and short-story collections. Her work amplifies women’s voices, confronts colonialism, racism and dictatorship, and defends art, imagination and inner life in a world that sidelines them. Her novels include O Silêncio, Paisagem com Mulher e Mar ao Fundo, A Casa da Cabeça de Cavalo, A Cidade de Ulisses, A Árvore das Palavras (The Word Tree), O Regresso de Júlia Mann a Paraty, and Autobiografia não escrita de Marta Freud (2024).
Translated in twenty countries, her fiction has inspired theatre and film adaptations and appears in major international anthologies. A former Professor of Comparative Literature at UNL and writer-in-residence at UC Berkeley, she lives in Lisbon.
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AUTOBIOGRAFIA NÃO ESCRITA DE MARTA FREUD, Grande Prémio de Romance e Novela da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores, 2025;
Prémio Urbano tavares Rodrigues, 2025
Grande Prémio de Literatura dst, 2023
Albert Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2018
Prémio Vergílio Ferreira pelo conjunto da obra, 2017
PRANTOS, AMORES E OUTROS DESVARIOS – Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco, 2017
PASSAGENS – Prémio Fernando Namora, 2015
A CIDADE DE ULISSES– Prémio Ciranda, 2012; Prémio António Quadros, 2013
A MULHER QUE PRENDEU A CHUVA – Prémio Máxima de Literatura, 2008; Prémio Literário Fundação Inês de Castro, 2008
HISTÓRIAS DE VER E ANDAR – Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco, 2002
OS TECLADOS – Prémio da Crítica (Centro Português da Association Internationale des Critiques Littéraires), 1999
A CASA DA CABEÇA DE CAVALO – Grande Prémio de Romance e Novela da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores, 1995; “shortlisted” para o Prémio Europeu de Romance Aristeion em 1996
O CAVALO DE SOL – Prémio P.E.N. Clube Português de Narrativa, 1989
O SILÊNCIO – Prémio P.E.N. Clube Português de Narrativa, 1981
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1. UK and 2. USA
Novels:
City of Ulysses, Victoria, TX, Dalkey Archive Press, 2017
The Word Tree, Dedalus, UK, 2010 (e-book, 2013)
Novellas:
The Angels,The Reading Room, no. 8, 2009
Short Stories:
“Alice in Thunderland”, Two Lines, September 2021 [leia aqui/read here]
“The Donor”, The Common, no. 20, 2020 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Keyboards”, The Missing Slate, February 2017 [ler aqui/read here]
“Aquamarine”, The Missing Slate, February 2016 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Umbrella”, The Threepenny Review, no. 137, Spring 2014 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Mimosas”, Hayden’s Ferry Review, no. 52, Spring/Summer 2013
“Encounter on the S-Bahn”, The Threepenny Review, no. 126, Summer 2011 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Letter”, The Threepenny Review, no. 120, Winter 2010 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Red Fox Fur Coat”, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 8th ed., eds. Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Ned Stuckey-French, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson, 2010.
“Four Children, Two Dogs and Some Birds”, Two Lines, no. 15, Fall 2008 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Reader”, The Threepenny Review, no. 113, Spring 2008 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Woman Who Stole the Rain”, in Words Without Borders, 15 September, 2007 [ler aqui/read here]
“Grandmother and Grandson against Wind and Sand”, The Threepenny Review, no. 107, Autumn 2006 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Red Fox Fur Coat”, The Threepenny Review, no. 97, Spring 2004 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Old Lady”, The Threepenny Review, no. 92, Winter 2003 [ler aqui/read here]
“The Red Fox Fur Coat” has often been read in the performance “Celebrating the Short-Story” in the Symphony Space Theatre, New York, since 2005 and in the program of January and February 2013; it is on the CD Wondrous Women and included in performances of “Stories-on-Stage”. Together with two American stories it was adapted for a radio play by Mike Walker and broadcast by the BBC and the New York Public Radio in 2008.
Anthologies:
The Best Small Fictions 2021, New York, Sonder Press, 2021
Lisbon Tales, edited by Helen Constantine and Amanda Hopkinson, Oxford University Press, 2019
Best European Fiction 2019, edited by Alex Andriesse, Champaign, IL, Dalkey Archive Press, 2018
Take Six: Six Portuguese Women Writers, edited by Margaret Jull Costa, Sawtry, UK, Dedalus, 2018
New Sudden Fiction: Best Short Stories from America and Beyond, edited by Robert Shapard & James Thomas, New York, W.W. Norton, 2007
Her translator into English is Margaret Jull Costa.
3. Canada
“The Red Fox Fur Coat”, Quest: English as a Second Language. Secondary Cycle Two, Year Three. Reading for Pleasure, edited by Susan Roy, Montréal, Chenelière Éducation, 2010
4. Spain
Los Ángeles, transl. María Jesús Fernández García, Editora Regional de Extremadura, Cáceres, 2020
El Árbol de las Palabras, transl. María Tecla Portela Carreiro, Barcelona, El Cobre Ediciones, 2003
“Seguridad”,Antología del Cuento Português, org. João de Melo, transl. Mario Merlino, Madrid, Santillana, 2002
5. Colombia
“La Mujer que Atrapó la Lluvia”,De la Otra Orilla del Atlántico: Portugal en la FILBO 2013, transl. Sergio Corella, Lisboa, Direcção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas, 2013
6. Mexico
“Décimo Mandamiento”, transl. Sergio Ernesto Ríos, Luvina, no. 93, Invierno 2018 [ler aqui/read here]
“Jogo Bravo”, Um Certo Desassossego, Guadalajara, Penguin Random House, 2018
7. Italy
Passagi, tansl. by Daniela Stegagno, Pineto, Riccardo Condò Editore, 2020
La Città di Ulisse,transl. Alessandra Della Penna, Perugia, Edizioni dell’Urogallo, 2013
Big Brother Isn’t Watching You e Altre Storie (Histórias de Ver e Andar),transl. Alessandra Della Penna, Perugia, Edizioni dell´Urogallo, 2013
8. France
Les Anges, transl.by Elisabeth Monteiro Rodrigues, Paris, Autrement, 2003
Le Cheval de Soleil, transl. by Geneviève Leibrich, Paris, Flammarion, 1992
9. Czech Republic
Mlčení(O Silêncio), transl. Lada Weissová, Prague, Torst, 2009
10. German
Das Schweigen (O Silêncio), transl. Karin von Schweder-Schreiner, Munich Frauenbuchverlag, 1987
Landschaft mit Frau und Meer im Hintergrund (Paisagem com Mulher e Mar ao Fundo), transl. Karin von Schweder-Schreiner, Munich, Frauenbuchverlag, 1985
11. Netherlands
Landschap Met Vrouw en Zee (Paisagem com Mulher e Mar ao Fundo), transl. Hennie Boos, Utrecht and Amsterdam, Sjaloom, 1986
12. Romania
Casa Umbrelor (A Casa da Cabeça de Cavalo), transl. Micaela Ghitescu, Bucarest, Editura Vivaldi, 2003
13. Croatia
“Nascer”, “Amor Bruxo”, and “O Meu Semelhante”, Anthology of the Lusophone Short Story, Zagreb, Edicije Božičević (coming out in 2023)
Kuca s Konjskom Glavom (A Casa da Cabeça de Cavalo), transl. Tanja Tarbuk, Zagreb, Stajer-Graf, 2009
14. Bulgaria
Excerpt fromA Casa da Cabeça de Cavalo, in Portuguese Literature: 20th and 21st Centuries, edited by Sidónia Pojarlieva, Sofia, Plamak, 2006
15. Morocco
A Mulher que Prendeu a Chuva e Outras Histórias, transl. Said Benabdelouahed, Rabat, Saad Warzazi Éd., 2010
16. Slovakia
“Čitateľ” (“O Leitor”), Portugalskych Poviedok: Antológia Súčasnej Portugalskej Poviedky, org. Margarida Braga Neves, Bratislava, Portugalský Inštitút/AnaPress, 2015
17. Japan
“O Meu Semelhante”, Anthology of Portuguese Short Stories: The Resurrection of Lusus’s Voice, eds. Rui Zink and Naotoshi Kurosawa, Tokyo, Gendai Kikakushitsu, 2019
18. China
“O Meu Semelhante”, Yilin Magazine, no. 3, 2022
“O Cão” and “Cavalos Nocturnos”, Yilin Magazine, no. 1, 2022
19. Brasil
O Regresso de Júlia Mann a Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Oficina Raquel, 2021
Alice e Outras Mulheres, Rio de Janeiro, Oficina Raquel, 2019
A Cidade de Ulisses, Rio de Janeiro, Oficina Raquel, 2017
A Árvore das Palavras, São, Paulo, Planeta, 2004
20. Turkey
“Kızıl Tilki Kürk Palto” (“O Casaco de Raposa Vermelha” = “The Red Fox Fur Coat”)
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New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories from America and Beyond (W. W. Norton, 2007),
Antología del Cuento Português (Alfaguara, 2012)
Take Six: Six Portuguese Women Writers (Dedalus Europe, 2018)
Best European Fiction (Dalkey Archive Press, 2019)
Lisbon Stories (Oxford University Press, 2019)
Antologia da Literatura Contemporânea Portuguesa (Tokyo, 2019)
Valuri, dune, case deschise (Bucharest, 2025)
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Guide to Women’s Literature Throughout the World, editado por Claire Buck, Columbia, 1992
Dicionário de Literatura Portuguesa, organização e direcção de Álvaro Manuel Machado, Lisboa, Presença, 1996
BIBLOS, Enciclopédia Verbo de Literaturas de Língua Portuguesa, vol. II, Lisboa/São Paulo, Editorial Verbo, 1997
Grande Enciclopédia Portuguesa e Brasileira, vol. III, Lisboa, 1998
Dicionário Cronológico de Autores Portugueses, vol VI, organização do Instituto Português do Livro e das Bibliotecas, coordenação de Ilídio Rocha, Lisboa, Europa América, 2001
Dicionário de Literatura – Actualização, direcção de Jacinto Prado Coelho, coordenação de Ernesto Rodrigues, Pires Laranjeira, Viale Moutinho, Porto, Figueirinhas, 2003
Dictionary of Literary Biography – Portuguese Writers, vol. 287, edited by Monica Rector and Frank Clark. Farmington Hills, MI, The Gaye Group Inc, 2004
Chronology of Portuguese Literature 1128-2000, de Rogério Miguel Puga, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011
Kindlers Neues Literatur Lexikon
Brockhaus Enzyklopaedie in 24 Baenden
Dictionary of International Biography, IBC, Cambridge
2000 Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century, IBC, Cambridge
International Who’s Who of Professional and Business Women, American Biographical Institute
International Authors and Writers Who’s Who, 17th, IBC, Cambridge
Marquis Who’s Who in the World