Filomena Araújo Embaló ^[1] (born 1956) is an Angolan-born Bissau-Guinean writer. She is the first woman in Guinea-Bissau to have published a novel. ^[2]

Biography

Filomena Embaló was born in Luanda, Angola, in 1956 to parents from Cape Verde. ^[3] She moved to Guinea-Bissau as a teenager, in 1975, and became naturalized there. ^[4] Embaló then studied economics at the University of Reims in France. ^[3] She holds a doctorate degree. ^[5]

The 1998–1999 civil war in Guinea-Bissau sent Embaló into an identity crisis, ^[3] which she explores in her first novel, Tiara, published in 1999. ^{[6] [7]} The first novel to be published by a Bissau-Guinean woman, Tiara deals with the fallout of colonialism in a fictionalized African country. ^[2] It was published by the Instituto Camões in Mozambique. ^{[6] [3]}

Embaló, who writes in Portuguese, ^[2] went on to publish a short story collection, Carta aberta, in 2005 ^[4] and a poetry collection, Coração cativo, in 2008. ^[8]

She has also written magazine and journal articles about Bissau-Guinean economics and literature. ^[9]

Embaló is an avid campaigner for women's rights in Guinea-Bissau. ^[2] She has worked as a civil servant at home and abroad, ^[10] at NGOs ^[8] including the Latin Union before its dissolution in 2012, ^[1] and as a diplomat. ^{[3] [11]}

Works

• 1999: Tiara (novel)
• 2005: Carta aberta (stories)
• 2008: Coração cativo (poetry)

References