The General Library of the University of Coimbra is set to host the national launch of the book ‘Sete Mulheres, Sete Musas: Lírica de Camões’ on June 4. The project is spearheaded by Alexandra Lourenço Dias, who also coordinated the anthology.
In a conversation, the academic explained that the conception of this anthology is an initiative by the Camões Center for Portuguese Language and Culture at King’s College London. It is part of the commemorations marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luís de Camões.
“The idea emerged from the need to introduce Camões’ lyric poetry to a younger audience, who often show resistance to reading, especially classic literature. This edition is intentionally written in Portuguese; however, it is hoped that an English adaptation might be possible in the future. The aim is also to bring the work in Portuguese to British readers and the Portuguese community in London,” she stated.
According to the director of the Camões Center at King’s College London, who has been working in the British capital for five years, Luís de Camões remains “one of the few great European poets of the 16th century who wrote a poem dedicated to a Black, enslaved woman — Bárbara.”
“There are those who claim that the poet might have been out of his mind for writing a poem to a Black woman. There has always been this shock, this resistance to accepting her elevation to an ideal of beauty comparable to Laura, immortalized by Petrarch,” she added.
Drawing on Camões’ lyric poetry and the central place occupied by female figures in his work, this book offers a visual and literary reinterpretation of seven muses — Leonor, Dinamene, Bárbara, Violante, Francisca, Catarina, and the Green-Eyed Girl. This is realized through the contemporary perspectives of seven Portuguese comic artists: Amanda Baeza, Daniela Viçoso, Miguel Rocha, Jorge Marinho, José Smith Vargas, Rita Mota, and Susa Monteiro, with the story by Pedro Vieira de Moura.
The work emphasizes the role of women — real or imagined — in Camões’ poetry and celebrates their diversity, providing body and voice to figures that have inspired music, literature, and art in Portugal for centuries.
The selection specifically focused on the women in Camões’ lyrics who have assigned names, allowing “an easier adaptation for the artists’ own interpretation” in comic form.
“I wanted to particularly highlight Bárbara, a Black and enslaved woman; Dinamene, of Asian origin; Leonor, a peasant; and the Green-Eyed Girl, for what they represent in the feminine diversity that Camões evoked in his verses, regardless of their origin or status, whether the poems express declared love or not,” she concluded.
