Isabela Figueiredo, born in Maputo in 1963, (formerly Lourenço Marques), of Portuguese parents, left Mozambique at the time of the country’s independence in 1975. Her parents remained, and she lived alone with her grandmother for about ten years. years in Portugal. Professor, journalist, she published her first book in 2009 Colonial memory notebookwhich had a huge impact in Portugal. (Replay)
“ Colonial memory notebook is Isabela Figueiredo’s first book. In this biographical account, she looks back on her childhood in Lourenço Marques, which has become Maputo since the independence of Mozambique in 1975. She depicts her relationship with adults, her parents, her father. Between great tenderness, filial love and a certain admiration for this strong and protective man, is added very young in the young Isabela the rejection of what he is also, a colonist, racist, sexist and violent. The great strength of this text lies in this revealed ambiguity. She loves without being able to help condemning and condemns without being able to help loving. » (Presentation of Chandeigne editions)
A book translated from Portuguese by Myriam Benarroch and Nathalie Meyroune and prefaced by Léonora Miano.