SOPHIA DE MELLO BREYNER ANDRESEN

An award-winning Portuguese poet.

Portugal

1919–2004

Born in Porto, she was descended from an aristocratic family from her

mother side. Her surname comes from her Danish merchant great-

grandfather. Andresen was raised a Christian and attended schools in her

hometown and Lisbon, where she moved after marrying lawyer and politician

Francisco Sousa Tavares. They had five children, among them journalist and

best-selling author Miguel Sousa Tavares. One of their daughters is a

missionary.

Some poets make poems the way a builder builds a home – verse by verse,

brick by brick. For Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, the whole world is

home, and poetry is just a matter of seeing and of being. The act of poetry

and the act of living are, to her inseparable. She defines poetry as “an art

of being” that “does not require my time and labour. It does not ask me to

have science, or aesthetics or theories. Instead it demands the entireness

of my being, a consciousness running deeper than my intellect.”

Awards

• In 1964 Grand Prize for Poetry by the Portuguese Writers Society

for her book Livro Sexto (The Sixth Book).
• In 1977 Teixeira de Pascoaes Prize for her book O Nome das Coisas
(The Name of Things).
• In 1983 Critics' Prize by the International Association of Critics for
the full set of her work.
• In 1989 King Diniz Prize by the Casa de Mateus Foundation for her
book Ilhas (Islands).
• In 1990 Grand Prize for Poetry by both Inasset/Inapa and Pen Club
for her book Ilhas (Islands).
• In 1992 Calouste Gulbenkian's Grand Prize for Literature for
Children by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for the full set of
her work.
• In 1994 "Vida Literária" (Literary Life) Prize by the Portuguese
Association of Writers.
• In 1995 Honour Plaque of the Petrarca Prize by the Italian
Association of Editors.
• In 1998 Luís Miguel Nava Foundation Prize for her book O Búzio de
Cós e Outros Poemas.
• In 1999 the Camoens Prize for Portuguese language literature.
• In 2003 the Reina Sofia Prize for writers of Portugal, Spain and
Latin America