Alda Lara

Alda Ferreira Freire de Andrade Lara was born on June 9, 1930, in Benguela into a cultured family. Moving to Portugal, she graduated in medicine from the University of Coimbra and specialized in pediatrics at the University of Lisbon, actively organizing African students at the Casa dos Estudantes do Império.

Returning to Angola in 1961, Dr. Lara worked in rural hospitals in Cambambe, ministering to impoverished mothers and children while secretly aiding the liberation struggle. Her poetry, published posthumously as Poemas (1966) and Poesia (1979), was infused with tender maternal warmth and passionate solidarity with the oppressed. The city of Lubango established the Alda Lara Literary Prize in her honor.