On the 10th of June we celebrate the day Luís vaz de Camões, the greatest Portuguese poet and author of the epic poem
The Lusiads, passed away. So I thought this was a good moment to compile names of writers available in English:
Luís Vaz de Camões: Portuguese literature starts with him; he is to Portugal what Cervantes is to Spain and Dante to Italy.
Eça de Queiroz: like Dante he's addressed by his first name; 19th century naturalist and delightful satirist, he's still very popular today.
Mário de Sá-Carneiro: one of the writers who introduced Modernism in Portugal, he was a poet, shorty-story writer and novelist and created some very unique fiction.
Fernando Pessoa: four poets in one, all his
heteronyms are fascinating and each one wrote in a different style. He was good friends with Sá-Carneiro.
António Lobo Antunes: arguably the only contemporary Portuguese novelist who rivals Saramago, with a literary style as complex.
Lídia Jorge: another good novelist, especially famous for
The Murmuring Coast, based on her life in Africa during the Portuguese Colonial War, a touchy subject for many.
There are other great writers: Miguel Torga, Agustina Bessa-Luís, Vergílio Ferreira, Gonçalo M. Tavares, but unfortunately they're not available in English yet.