Memórias, Aparições, Arritmias

Memórias, Aparições, Arritmias (2021, Portugal: Companhia das Letras) can be classified as decolonial and ecofeminist poetry. The poems are reflections on the condition of women and black people, everyday life, banishment and how violence against women is related to the destruction of nature. The reader is confronted with the ongoing effects of colonialism, racism and identity dualities, in an intimate lyrical landscape that searches for healing. Some of the poems are based on generational memories, others are autobiographical. They transport us to other times and spaces: Yara’s childhood and adolescence on the outskirts of Lisbon; the stories of life in Angola, told by her grandmother. In them sprout restlessness scribbled in notebooks, sketching imagined paths from the great questions that define who we are. Amidst everything, everyday life flows by and an engaging, enchanting literary voice emerges that is impossible to ignore. Any resonance with reality is poetry.

Quotes

“Heir to a lyrical tradition (both oral and erudite) that she does not renounce, Yara Nakahanda Monteiro brings to Angolan poetry the great themes of a present in convulsion. Here is a new voice that is important to discover – and one that is here to stay.”

José Eduardo Agualusa

“Between shouting and silence, the voice of the women engraved in the city’s memory and for so long forgotten thus emerges in these appearances. Yara Monteiro gathered, turned around, and wrote. Nothing that is here is simple. Everything has body and life and is purified by fire.”

Ana Paula Tavares

“Yara Nakahanda Monteiro’s is undoubtedly a powerful voice (…) that questions the mainstream view and contributes to the recognition (…) of other memories, often harsh and traumatic, which are an integral part of the history of Portugal, as well as of Africa.”

Luciana Moreira e Doris Wieser, Buala