Maria da Cunha (19 October 1872 — 10 January 1917) was a Portuguese poet and journalist. She is arguably best known for having been the lover of

Virgínia Quaresma Virgínia Sofia Guerra Quaresma (28 December 1882 – 26 October 1973) was the first woman to take up professional journalism in Portugal and was one of the first women graduates from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon. She was open ...

, the first female professional journalist in Portugal and one of the first Portuguese to be openly lesbian.

Early life

Maria da Cunha Zorro was born in the Portuguese capital of

Lisbon 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 ...

on 19 October 1872, to an upper-class family. Her mother was Brazilian, her father Spanish, and her uncle a noted

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, Cândido de Figueiredo.

Brazil

In 1912, Virgínia Quaresma (1882–1973) was invited to visit Brazil to cover the story of the murder of his wife by a well-known poet. She travelled to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

with Cunha, her lover, for whom she also secured employment with the newspaper, ''A Época'', which had hired her. The decision of the couple to go to Brazil would have been based on several considerations but it is likely that the

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

environment in Portugal at the time would have contributed to it. One researcher has concluded that they effectively "went into exile in Brazil, in search of anonymity and freedom to live out their forbidden love". After the case was over Cunha and Quaresma stayed in Brazil.

Writing and speaking

Cunha did translations from French to Portuguese. Inspired to write poetry by Cândido de Figueiredo, she published her first book of poetry, ''Trindades'', in 1909. A Preface written by her friends the writer,

Júlio Dantas Júlio Dantas, GCC (1876 – 25 May 1962) was a Portuguese doctor, poet, journalist, politician, diplomat and playwright. Biography Writing career In 1902, Dantas published the one-act verse play '' A Ceia dos Cardeais'' (''The Dinner of the ...

, and the Count of Monsaraz led to considerable sales and a new version in 1911 with added poems. She continued to publish poetry while in Brazil and wrote for several magazines in Portugal and Brazil. She also became recognised as an excellent lecturer.

Death

Maria da Cunha, died suddenly in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, where she had been expecting to take up a teaching appointment, on 10 January 1917. Quaresma returned to Portugal shortly after.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunha, Maria da 1872 births 1917 deaths Portuguese women poets Brazilian women poets Portuguese LGBTQ poets Brazilian LGBTQ poets Lesbian poets Portuguese emigrants to Brazil 19th-century Portuguese LGBTQ people 20th-century Portuguese LGBTQ people Brazilian lesbian writers Portuguese lesbian writers