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MARIA DO CARMO FERREIRA

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Biography

I was born in Cataguases, known as the Princess of the Woods, in Minas Gerais, etymologically speaking: a land of good people, besides being a cradle of the arts and of great artists, which makes me feel very proud of it.

Unfortunately, at the age of 14, I had to move with the rest of the family to Belo Horizonte, where I completed high school and graduated in Literature by the Faculdade de Filosofia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - FFUFMG (School of Philosophy of the Federal University of Minas Gerais). I taught for a long time, at all educational levels, fell in love, got engaged, almost died of a serious illness, but I was spared at the last moment.

I began writing poetry at an early age, but only started publishing my poems in the 60's (I was born in 1938), in literature magazines and newspaper special editions, mainly in one called Suplemento Literário de Minas Gerais - SLMG (Literary Supplement of Minas Gerais), where I contributed almost since its foundation. Recently, the Official Press of the State of Minas Gerais interviewed me about my work, publishing a series of new poems and translations (SLMG, nº 57, March 2000).

Almost at the same time, in the Poetic Wall "New-coming Women", founded by poet Tania Diniz, I was awarded first prize twice in the III International Poetry Contest, with two sets of three poems each, under different pen names, and, for this reason, the following newspaper is a special edition, bringing a series only of my new unreleased poems, which is about to be published. Here are other publications that printed my verses: the magazine Invenção (Invention), by the Concrete poets from São Paulo, nº 5, 1966, that published my poem Meretrilho (The Train Whore), and the art magazine Ímã (Magnet), nº 5, edited by Sandra Medeiros, in Rio de Janeiro, with two of my long length poems: As Parcas (The Parkas) e O Pregador (The Preacher). I have systematically translated poems by Emily Dickinson (about 50 poems), Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jacques Prévert and also Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, Tristan Corbière, Jules Laforgue, W. B. Yeats and some North American poets that I like a lot.

I have a new book which has 125 poems to come soon: CAVE CARMEN (Beware of Carmen), another of translated poems and four children's books: The Thinking Flower; The Sacristan and the Miss; Floral and Animal Games and The Dolphin who didn't know how to die. I moved round a lot, I lived and worked for four years in São Paulo and for another four years I lived abroad, between Europe and United States of America, where I taught in the Graduates School and completed my master's degree in Compared Literature in the University of Illinois.

At present, I'm a retired employee from Rádio Ministério da Educação e Cultura (Ministry of Education and Culture Broadcast), after 30 years rendering services as a creator, researcher, translator, writer and coordinator of literary and musical programs and technician in Cultural Matters, I started writing with more fervor and confidence.

Translated by Thereza Christina Rocque da Motta


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