Maria Gilberta Fernanda

Popular poetess whose education did not extend beyond primary school. From an early age she earned her living working in the fields, where she learned to love nature and to understand the social struggles of the peasantry. In humble words and poetic form she translated a web of relationships between ethics and aesthetics, creating a lyrical body shaped by the submission, poverty and humiliation of those born socially unequal. She awoke to cultural life late, but has received awards and warm acceptance in the literary associations of the Algarve. In 1989, the Municipal Council of Vila Real de Stº. António published her first and only book, Madrugadas Despertas.