Ana Paula Tavares

Ana Paula Tavares is an Angolan poet, writer, and historian born in 1952 in Lubango. She is considered one of the most important Angolan poets and a leading voice in Lusophone African literature. Her work draws on Angolan oral traditions, particularly the Nyaneka-Nkhumbi people of southern Angola, while engaging with the broader concerns of African and feminine identity. Tavares published her first collection Ritos de Passagem (Rites of Passage) in 1985, immediately establishing herself as a distinctive and powerful poetic voice. Her subsequent collections include O Lago da Lua (1999), Ex-Votos (2003), and Manual para Amantes Desesperados (2007). Her poetry is known for its celebration of African femininity, its lyrical intensity, and its rooting in Angolan landscape and culture. She has also worked as a historian and researcher, contributing to the recovery of Angolan history and oral culture. She has taught at universities in Portugal and Brazil. She received the Prémio Camões in 2025, the first Angolan woman to receive the prize. The award recognized a lifetime of poetic achievement and her role in placing Angolan literature firmly within the Lusophone literary tradition.