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Women of the resistance

Noémia de Sousa

1926–2002

Carolina Noémia Abranches de Sousa Soares

A Mozambican poet, she lived in Lisbon from 1951 to 1964, published in the House of the Students of the Empire’s “Mensagem” and attended the Centre for African Studies, until her opposition to the Estado Novo (“New State”) forced her into exile in Paris.

Studentspoettranslator and journalistanti-colonialistexile in Paris
Born
20 September 1926, Catembe (Maputo, formerly Lourenço Marques), Mozambique
Died
4 December 2002, Cascais
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Biography

She was born in Catembe, Mozambique, on 20 September 1926. The poetry she wrote between 1949 and 1951 was only collected in a book in 2001, in Sangue Negro (Black Blood); until then, her work was scattered across newspapers and magazines, such as O Brado Africano and the Mensagem of the House of the Students of the Empire.1

From 1951 to 1964 she lived in Lisbon, where she worked as a translator.1 She attended the Centre for African Studies, which met at the home of Alda do Espírito Santo.3 In the memoirs of António Tomás Medeiros, she is one of the Centre’s “elders”, who moved away from Portugal for fear that the PIDE would associate the Centre with the events in Africa.2

Her opposition to the Estado Novo forced her into exile in Paris, where she began signing her work as Vera Micaia. She returned to Lisbon in 1975 and died in Cascais on 4 December 2002.1

Sources5
  1. 1Noémia de Sousa. Wikipédia — consulted on 2 October 2026
  2. 2Entrevista a António Tomás Medeiros (Colecção E-Books). Centro de Documentação 25 de Abril – Universidade de Coimbra — consulted on 2 October 2026
  3. 3Alda do Espírito Santo. Wikipédia — consulted on 2 October 2026
  4. 4Noemi Alfieri (CHAM, Universidade Nova de Lisboa), «Noémia de Sousa, ou ser "África da cabeça aos pés" em tempos de colonização». Journal of Lusophone Studies, 4.2, 2019 — consulted on 4 October 2026Assinou «Vera Micaia» na «Página da mulher» do Brado Africano (fim de 1949 – início de 1951); partiu para a metrópole no paquete Angola em outubro de 1951, já vigiada pela PIDE (processo 2756 CI (2)); o «exílio em Lisboa» durou até 1964, seguindo-se Paris.
  5. 5Centenário Noémia de Sousa. Jovens poetas pedem bibliotecas, avenidas e ruas para eternizar escritora. Observador (Lusa), 2026 — consulted on 4 October 2026«Nascida no dia 20 de setembro de 1926, na Catembe», Carolina Noémia Abranches de Sousa Soares morreu a 4 de dezembro de 2002, em Cascais.
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