Al Berto

Al Berto (Alberto Raposo Pidwell Tavares, January 11, 1948 – June 13, 1997) was a Portuguese poet.

Born in Coimbra, he moved to Brussels in 1967, where he studied painting at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et des Arts Visuels.  In1975, he returned to Portugal, and opened a bookstore and a publishing house. In 1988, he received the Poetry PEN Club award with the book O Medo. He was a foundational figure in the emergence of a queer literature in Portugal.

He died of lymphoma in 1997.

Poems

• I dig into the heart a well of salt,
• The Moon Tamer

Books

In Portuguese

• Poetry
  • Trabalhos do Olhar (1982)
  • O Último Habitante (1983)
  • Salsugem (1984)
  • A Seguir o Deserto (1984)
  • Três Cartas da Memória das Índias (1985)
  • Uma Existência de Papel (1985)
  • O Medo (Trabalho Poético 1974-1986) (1987)
  • O Livro dos Regressos (1989)
  • A Secreta Vida das Imagens (1990)
  • Canto do Amigo Morto (1991)
  • O Medo : Trabalho Poético 1974-1990 (1991)
  • Luminoso Afogado (1995)
  • Horto de Incêndio (1997)
  • O Medo (1998)
  • Degredo no Sul (2007)

   

• Prose
  • À Procura do Vento num Jardim d’Agosto (1977)
  • Meu Fruto de Morder, Todas as Horas (1980)
  • Lunário (1988)
  • O Anjo Mudo (1993)
  • Dispersos (2007)
  • Diários (2012)

• Theatre
  • Apresentação da Noite (1985)

In English

• 28 Portuguese Poets, ed. Richard Zenith (Dedalus Press, 2015)