António Jacinto do Amaral Martins (28 September 1924 – 23 June 1991) was an

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

n poet and politician. He was also known by his pseudonym Orlando Tavora.

Biography

Jacinto was born in

Luanda, Angola Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

, to parents of Portuguese descent. He was raised and studied in the interior of Angola in the remote town of

Golungo Alto Golungo Alto is a town and municipality in Cuanza Norte Province in Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking ...

Cuanza Norte Province The Cuanza Norte Province (; ) is province of Angola. N'dalatando is the capital and the province has an area of 24,110 km2 and a population of 443,386. Manuel Pedro Pacavira was born here and is a former provincial governor. The 1,400 met ...

. After having obtained his license in Luanda, he started working as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. He stood out as a protesting poet, and as a result of his political

militancy The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

, was first arrested in 1959. Jacinto was ultimately sent to the

Tarrafal concentration camp Tarrafal was a concentration camp located in the village of Chão Bom, in the Municipality of Tarrafal, on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde. It was established in 1936, during a reorganization process of the Portuguese Estado Novo priso ...

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

from 1961 to 1972. His first book of poems was published in 1961, the same year of his arrest and imprisonment. His imprisonment received international attention, and he was transferred in 1972 to Lisbon where, on parole, he worked as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

. Jacinto escaped in 1973 to join the

Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (, abbr. MPLA), from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Po ...

(MPLA). As soon as independence was declared in 1975 he served in the cabinet of

Agostinho Neto António Agostinho Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan Communism, communist politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of ...

(1922 – 1979), first as Minister of Education and Culture, and as secretary of the National Cultural Council in 1977. He withdrew from politics in 1990 due to advanced age. Jacinto died in

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, in 1991.

Bibliography

* ''Colectãnea de Poemas'', 1961, Éditions Casa dos Estudantes do Império, Lisbon. * ''Outra vez Vovô Bartolomeu'' (Portuguese, Another time Grandfather Bartolomeu), 1979. * ''Sobreviver em tarrafal de Santiago'' (Portuguese, 1980), ''Survivre dans Tarrafal de Santiago'' (French, "Surviving in Tarrafal de Santiago"), Luanda: Éditions INALD (Instituto Nacional do Livro de Disco), 1985. Winner of 1985 National Literature prize."Angola: Literature prize", ''

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

'', 3 February 1986, p. 271.

Selected poems

* "O grande desafio" (Portuguese; "The great challenge") * "Poema da alienação" ("Poem of alienation") * "Carta dum contratado" ("Letter of a contract worker") * "Monangamba" (French adaptation and music setting by

Colette Magny Colette Magny (31 October 1926 – 12 June 1997) was a French singer and songwriter. A charismatic performer who did not record until her thirties, her work encompassed blues, jazz, protest songs, experimental music and spoken word recording ...

in 1964) * "Canto interior de uma noite fantástica" ("Interior chant of a fantastic night") * "Era uma vez (literally, "it was once"; can be translated as, "Once upon a time") * "Bailarina negra" ("Black dancer") * "Ah! Se pudésseis aqui ver poesia que não há!" ("Ah! If you could see that there is no poetry here!")

Quotes

* "Sur cette vaste plantation, ce n'est pas la pluie mais la sueur de mon front qui arrose les récoltes" (French, from poem "Monangamba"; literally: "On this vast plantation, it is not rain but the sweat from my brow that waters the harvests").

References

External links

Biográfia e poemas de António Jacinto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacinto, Antonio 20th-century Angolan poets Angolan male poets 1924 births 1991 deaths Culture ministers of Angola Angolan people of Portuguese descent 20th-century male writers