Filomena Embaló

Filomena Araújo Embaló^[1] (born 1956) is an Angolan-born Bissau-Guinean writer. She is the first woman in Guinea-Bissau to have published a novel.^[2]

Filomena Embaló
Born	1956 (age 68–69) Luanda, Angola
Occupation	Writer
Alma mater	University of Reims

Biography

Filomena Embaló was born in Luanda, Angola, in 1956 to parents from Cape Verde.^[3] She moved to Guinea-Bissau as a teenager, in 1975, and became naturalized there.^[4] Embaló then studied economics at the University of Reims in France.^[3] She holds a doctorate degree.^[5]

The 1998–1999 civil war in Guinea-Bissau sent Embaló into an identity crisis,^[3] which she explores in her first novel, Tiara, published in 1999.^[6][7] The first novel to be published by a Bissau-Guinean woman, Tiara deals with the fallout of colonialism in a fictionalized African country.^[2] It was published by the Instituto Camões in Mozambique.^[6][3]

Embaló, who writes in Portuguese,^[2] went on to publish a short story collection, Carta aberta, in 2005^[4] and a poetry collection, Coração cativo, in 2008.^[8]

She has also written magazine and journal articles about Bissau-Guinean economics and literature.^[9]

Embaló is an avid campaigner for women's rights in Guinea-Bissau.^[2] She has worked as a civil servant at home and abroad,^[10] at NGOs^[8] including the Latin Union before its dissolution in 2012,^[1] and as a diplomat.^[3][11]

Works

• 1999: Tiara (novel)
• 2005: Carta aberta (stories)
• 2008: Coração cativo (poetry)