Maria Isabel Barreno
Maria Isabel Barreno de Faria Martins GOIH (10 July 1939 – 3 September 2016) was a Portuguese writer, essayist, journalist and sculptor. She was one of the authors of the book Novas Cartas Portugesas (New Portuguese Letters), together with Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa. The authors, known as the "Three Marias," were arrested, jailed and prosecuted under Portuguese censorship laws in 1972, during the last years of the Estado Novo dictatorship.
Also recorded as Maria Isabel Barreno de Faria Martins
Maria Isabel Barreno

Joseolgon · File:Vila Nova de Cerveira Portugal 13.jpg · CC0
- Name
- Maria Isabel Barreno
- Born
- 10 July 1939
- Birthplace
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Died
- 3 September 2016
- Occupation
- Writer
- Education
- University of Lisbon
- Nationality
- Portugal
- Honours
- Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry · Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco
- Languages
- Portuguese
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Documentary summary
Maria Isabel Barreno de Faria Martins GOIH (10 July 1939 – 3 September 2016) was a Portuguese writer, essayist, journalist and sculptor. She was one of the authors of the book Novas Cartas Portugesas (New Portuguese Letters), together with Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa. The authors, known as the "Three Marias," were arrested, jailed and prosecuted under Portuguese censorship laws in 1972, during the last years of the Estado Novo dictatorship.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
The book and their trial inspired protests in Portugal and attracted international attention from European and American women's liberation groups in the years leading up to the Carnation Revolution.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Maria Isabel Barreno • Birth Name — Maria Isabel Barreno • Born — 10 July 1939 • Birthplace — Lisbon, Portugal • Died — 3 September 2016 • Occupation — Writer • Language — Portuguese • Education — University of Lisbon
Biography
Biography
Born in Lisbon in the freguesia of Socorro, her parents moved to Areeiro, where she spent her childhood and adolescence. She studied College of Letters at the Universidade de Lisboa, where she graduated in Historico-Philosophical Sciences. After graduation she took a job working for the Instituto de Investigação Industrial. She dedicated herself to the cause of feminism, taking part in the Portuguese feminist movement together with the writers Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa, the "Three Marias" (Três Marias). On 8 March 2004 she was made a Grand Official in the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique. Barreno died on 3 September 2016 at the age of 77. A 1975 photo of the Three Marias published in The Economist shows Isabel Barreno on the right. A late-life photo of her appears with her obituary on a Portuguese government site, cig.gov.pt.
Works
Works
• Adaptação do Trabalhador de Origem Rural ao Meio Industrial Urbano (1966) • A Condição da Mulher Portuguesa (1968) (collaboration) • De Noite as Árvores São Negras (1968) • Os Outros Legítimos Superiores (1970) • Novas Cartas Portuguesas (1972) (co-authored with Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Velho da Costa) • A Morte da Mãe (1979) • A Imagem da Mulher na Imprensa (1976) • Inventário de Ana (1982) • Contos Analógicos (1983) • Sinos do Universo (1984) • Contos (1985) • Célia e Celina (1985) • O Outro Desbotado (1986) • O Falso Neutro (1989) • O Direito ao Presente (1990) • Crónica do Tempo (1991) – winner of the Fernando Namora Prize • O enviado (1991) • O Chão Salgado (1992) • Os Sensos Incomuns (1993) – winner of the Prémio P.E.N. Clube Português de Ficção, and the Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco • O Senhor das Ilhas (1994) • As Vésperas Esquecidas (1999)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1939
Maria Isabel Barreno born at Lisbon.
2016
Maria Isabel Barreno died at Lisbon.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q443726: Maria Isabel Barreno
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Maria Isabel Barreno”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
L'écriture de Maria Isabel Barreno face au Portugal du XXe siècle : esthétique de l'hybridité, résistance politique et réécriture du fémininCrossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q443726: Maria Isabel BarrenoWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Her recorded language was Portuguese. Barreno received Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry and Grande Prémio de Conto Camilo Castelo Branco.
Identity and origins
Recognition and collections
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Maria GripeAuthor
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- Maria JacobsAuthor
- Maria JamesAuthor
- Maria JanionAuthor
- Maria JastrzebskaAuthor
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