Virgílio de Lemos

Virgílio de Lemos was born on November 29, 1929, on Ibo Island. A charismatic bohemian poet and co-founder of the avant-garde journal Msaho, he forged close intellectual bonds with Angolan nationalists Agostinho Neto, Mário Pinto de Andrade, and António Jacinto.

Arrested in 1961 by the colonial secret police for authoring anti-colonial manifestos under the heteronym Duarte Galvão, Lemos was imprisoned and tortured for fourteen months in Lourenço Marques. Escaping to Paris in 1963 with the assistance of Marguerite Duras, he worked as a foreign correspondent and poet, publishing collections such as Corpo Rebelde (Rebel Body) and A alma no olho, bridging Lusophone African and French surrealist literature.