Hélia Correia
Hélia Correia was born in Lisbon. With a degree in Romance Philology, she taught at secondary school. A poet and playwright, it was as a fiction writer that Hélia Correia emerged as one of the most important and original names of the 1980s, when she published O Separar das Águas in 1981. Novels followed such as Montedemo, Casa Eterna (Prémio Máxima de Literatura, 2000), Insânia, Bastardia (Prémio Máxima de Literatura, 2006), Adoecer (Prémio Fundação Inês de Castro, 2010) and Um Bailarino na Batalha (APE/DGLAB Grand Prize for the Novel, 2018).
In poetry, she has contributed widely to anthologies and newspapers and has published works such as A Pequena Morte/Esse Eterno Canto (a diptych with Jaime Rocha), Apodera-te de Mim, A Terceira Miséria (PEN Club Poetry Prize, 2012, and Prémio Correntes d'Escritas, 2013) and Acidentes (PEN Club Poetry Prize, 2021).
Her writing for the theatre has favoured the Greek classics, notably Perdição, Exercício sobre Antígona, O Rancor, Exercício sobre Helena and Desmesura, Exercício com Medeia.
For children, highlights include the books in the Mopsos, o Pequeno Grego series, Ouro de Delfos and A Coroa de Olímpia. Also worth mentioning are her versions of Shakespeare, Sonho de Uma Noite de Verão (children's version) and A Ilha Encantada (a children's version of The Tempest), as well as A Chegada de Twainy (2011) and A Luz de Newton (2015).
Among the many prizes she has received, the most notable is the Camões Prize (2015).
