Source: National Archives & Historic Records of Cape Verde
Literature & Poetry • Historical Archive • 🇨🇻 Cape Verde • 0 views

Corsino Fortes 🇨🇻

Corsino António Fortes (Known as "Corsino Fortes")
Master Poet, Diplomat, President of Cape Verdean Writers Association, Author of Pão & Fonema
Born 1933-02-14 🇨🇻 Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Passed Away 2015-07-24 Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Lifespan 82 years old
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"Out of basalt and bread, out of song and silence, we carve the eternal face of our island home."

Archival Overview

Major 20th-century Cape Verdean poet and diplomat whose monumental trilogy 'A Cabeça Calva de Deus' ('The Bald Head of God') forged an epic, sculptural poetic language for island identity.

Biographical Record

Corsino António Fortes was born on February 14, 1933, in Mindelo. After graduating in law from the University of Lisbon in 1966, Fortes was active in clandestine anti-fascist student circles before serving newly independent Cape Verde as its first Ambassador to Portugal and as Secretary of State.

His celebrated poetic trilogy—comprising Pão & Fonema (1974), Árvore & Tambor (1986), and Pedras de Sol & Substância (2001)—is revered as a summit of modern Lusophone verse. Fortes created a visceral, fractured syntax mirroring the basalt volcanic peaks and sea winds of Cape Verde. He served for years as President of the Cape Verdean Writers' Association (AEC).

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Mindelo Municipal Cemetery
Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde
GPS: 16.8912, -24.9862
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