Hélia Correia

Hélia Correia was born in Lisboa in 1949 and spent her childhood and youth in Mafra. She completed her secondary education in Lisboa, where she attended the Faculdade de Letras and graduated in Romance Philology, and worked as a secondary-school teacher. In 2002, she completed a master's degree in Classical Theatre.

As a novelist, Hélia Correia established herself as one of the most important and original voices to emerge during the 1980s with the publication, in 1981, of O Separar das Águas. Novels and novellas followed, including Montedemo, Insânia, A Casa Eterna (Prémio Máxima de Literatura, 2000), Lillias Fraser (Prémio de Ficção do PEN Clube, 2001, and Prémio D. Dinis, 2002), Bastardia (Prémio Máxima de Literatura, 2006), Adoecer (Prémio da Fundação Inês de Castro, 2010) and Um Bailarino na Batalha (Grande Prémio de Romance e Novela, 2019).

Her work has branched out into poetry and drama. In poetry, she has contributed extensively to anthologies and newspapers, beginning at the age of 18 in Juvenil in Diário de Lisboa, and has published works such as A Pequena Morte / Esse Eterno Canto (in a diptych with Jaime Rocha) and Apodera-Te de Mim. A Terceira Miséria (2012) received the prémio de Poesia do PEN Clube and the Prémio Literário Correntes d’Escritas. Her writing for the theatre incorporates the influence of the Greek classics in works such as Perdição : Exercício sobre Antígona, O Rancor : Exercício sobre Helena, and Desmesura : Exercício com Medeia.

She published a short-story anthology in November 2008, Contos de Hélia Correia; in 2014, Vinte Degraus e Outros Contos, which received the Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco, awarded by the Associação Portuguesa de Escritores and the Câmara Municipal de Vila Nova de Famalicão; and, in 2023, Certas Raízes.

Her books for children include those in the Mopsos, o Pequeno Grego series: O Ouro de Delfos and A Coroa de Olímpia, as well as A Chegada de Twainy and Inventor de Vendavais. She has also published adaptations of Shakespeare's works for children and young people, Sonho de Uma Noite de Verão : Versão Infantil and A Ilha Encantada : Versão para Jovens de A Tempestade.

She was awarded the Prémio Camões in 2015.