Maria Isabel Barreno de Faria Martins GOIH (10 July 1939 – 3 September 2016) was a Portuguese writer, essayist, journalist and sculptor. She was one of the authors of the book '' Novas Cartas Portugesas'' (''New Portuguese Letters''), together with Maria Teresa Horta and

Maria Velho da Costa Maria de Fátima de Bivar Velho da Costa (26 June 1938 – 23 May 2020) was a Portuguese writer who was awarded the Camões Prize in 2002. She took part in the Portuguese Feminist Movement, and became one of the authors of the book ''New Portugue ...

. The authors, known as the "Three Marias," were arrested, jailed and prosecuted under Portuguese censorship laws in 1972, during the last years of the Estado Novo dictatorship. The book and their trial inspired protests in Portugal and attracted international attention from European and American women's liberation groups in the years leading up to the

Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...

Biography

Born in

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 ...

in the

freguesia (), usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Portuguese over ...

of Socorro, her parents moved to Areeiro, where she spent her childhood and adolescence. She studied College of Letters at the Universidade de Lisboa, where she graduated in Historico-Philosophical Sciences. After graduation she took a job working for the Instituto de Investigação Industrial. She dedicated herself to the cause of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, taking part in the Portuguese

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

movement together with the writers Maria Teresa Horta and

, the "Three Marias" (''Três Marias''). On 8 March 2004 she was made a Grand Official in the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique. Barreno died on 3 September 2016 at the age of 77. The sketch shown here is not a portrait of Barreno but of Maria Fatima Velho da Costa. A 1975 photo of the Three Marias published in The Economist shows Isabel Barreno on the right. A late-life photo of her appears with her obituary on a Portuguese government site, cig.gov.pt.

Works

*''Adaptação do Trabalhador de Origem Rural ao Meio Industrial Urbano'' (1966) *''A Condição da Mulher Portuguesa'' (1968) (collaboration) *''De Noite as Árvores São Negras'' (1968) *''Os Outros Legítimos Superiores'' (1970) *'' Novas Cartas Portuguesas'' (1971) (co-authored with Maria Teresa Horta and

) *''A Morte da Mãe'' (1972) *''A Imagem da Mulher na Imprensa'' (1976) *''Inventário de Ana'' (1982) *''Contos Analógicos'' (1983) *''Sinos do Universo'' (1984) *''Contos'' (1985) *''Célia e Celina'' (1985) *''O Outro Desbotado'' (1986) *''O Falso Neutro'' (1989) *''O Direito ao Presente'' (1990) *''Crónica do Tempo'' (1991) – winner of the Fernando Namora Prize *''O enviado'' (1991) *''O Chão Salgado'' (1992) *''Os Sensos Incomuns'' (1993) – winner of the Prémio P.E.N. Clube Português de Ficção, and the Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco *''O Senhor das Ilhas'' (1994) *''As Vésperas Esquecidas'' (1999)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barreno, Maria Isabel 1939 births 2016 deaths 21st-century Portuguese women writers 21st-century Portuguese writers 20th-century Portuguese women writers Writers from Lisbon Portuguese women novelists 20th-century Portuguese novelists