author
João da Câmara
1852–1908
A leading figure in Portuguese drama at the end of the 19th century, he was known for plays that brought emotion and social observation to the stage. He is also remembered as the first Portuguese writer to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
1 Audiobook
Contos
by João da Câmara
About the author
Born in Lisbon in 1852, João da Câmara — more fully João Maria Evangelista Gonçalves Zarco da Câmara — became one of Portugal’s best-known playwrights of the late 1800s. Writing under the name D. João da Câmara, he built a reputation in theater and journalism and helped shape modern Portuguese drama.
His best-known works include Afonso VI, Os Velhos, and Rosa Enjeitada. Contemporary and reference sources describe him as Portugal’s outstanding dramatist of his time, praised for bringing strong feeling and vivid stage characters to his plays.
He died in Lisbon in 1908. His literary reputation has endured not only because of his plays, but also because he was the first Portuguese author to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1901.