Manuel Rui

Background

Manuel Rui Alves Monteiro was born in 1941 in Huambo (then Nova Lisboa), capital of Angola.

Education

He studied at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, and received a law degree there in 1969.

Career

He has been described as "the chronicler par excellence of postindependence Angola" through fiction that offers "subtle, complex, pointed, and oftentimes humorous portrayals of Angola since the early years of the MPLA euphoria, in which he played a political role."

He practiced law in Coimbra during the nationalist struggle for independence in Angola. He was on the editorial board of Vértice, the journal of the Center of Literary Studies in Coimbra, where he published his first prose fiction works in the early 1970s. In the aftermath of the Portuguese military coup on April 25, 1974, Rui returned to Angola to serve as the MPLA Minister of Information in the transitional government established by the Alvor Agreement.

He also directed the MPLA"s Department of Revolutionary Orientation and Department of Foreign Affairs.

He wrote the lyrics of Angola"s first national anthem, "Angola Avante!", the Angolan version of "The Internationale". Rui"s 1982 book Quem Maine Dera Ser Onda has been described as "a classic of Angolan (and Lusophone African) literature".

Works

More photos

• book

  • Quem Me Dera Ser Onda

    (Uma bela e tocante história de como uma amizade entre dua...)

  • Quem Me Dera Ser Onda (Portuguese Edition)

    (Um romance delirantemente divertido e luminosamente reden...)