Maria Teresa Horta
Maria Teresa de Mascarenhas Horta Barros (20 May 1937 – 4 February 2025) was a Portuguese feminist poet, journalist and activist. She is one of the authors of the book Novas Cartas Portuguesas (New Portuguese Letters), together with Maria Isabel Barreno 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 Teresa Mascarenhas Horta
Maria Teresa Horta

Lameiro · File:Vila Nova de Cerveira 01-18c, Mulheres da Revoluçâo (Elton Hipolito, 2019).jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Full name
- Maria Teresa de Mascarenhas Horta Barros.
- Born
- 1937. · Lisbon.
- Died
- 2025. · Lisbon.
- Nationality
- Portugal.
- Occupation
- novelist, writer, poet, journalist, women's rights activist and literary critic.
- Fields
- literature, poetry, journalism and activism.
- Education
- University of Lisbon.
- Known for
- New Portuguese Letters.
- Honours
- Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry, Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa, Premio Maxima de Literatura, Prémio D. Dinis, Prémio Autores and Medal of Cultural Merit.
- Languages
- Portuguese.
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Documentary summary
Maria Teresa de Mascarenhas Horta Barros (20 May 1937 – 4 February 2025) was a Portuguese feminist poet, journalist and activist. She is one of the authors of the book Novas Cartas Portuguesas (New Portuguese Letters), together with Maria Isabel Barreno 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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Note VALÉORINE
Maria Teresa Horta (1937–2025) was a journalist, literary critic and novelist, among other activities, of Portuguese nationality. The journalist was born Maria Teresa de Mascarenhas Horta Barros in Lisbon and died in Lisbon.
Maria Teresa Horta was educated at University of Lisbon. Activity centred on activism, journalism and literature.
Among the works is New Portuguese Letters. Languages used include Portuguese. Honours include BBC 100 Women, Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry and Medal of Cultural Merit, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2624628 · wikipedia · Maria Teresa Horta
In this article
Early life and career
Early life and career
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.
Maria Teresa Horta studied at University of Lisbon. The recorded working language is Portuguese. The field of work recorded is literature, poetry and journalism. Works named in the authority record are New Portuguese Letters. Distinctions recorded are Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry, Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa, Premio Maxima de Literatura and Prémio D.
Horta had a bachelor's degree from the Universidade de Lisboa and worked as a journalist. She took part in the Portuguese Feminist Movement with Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Velho da Costa (the Three Marias) and was a member of the Poesia 61 group. Her writing has been published in such journals as Diário de Lisboa, A Capital, República, O Século, Diário de Notícias and Jornal de Letras e Artes, and she was editor in chief of Mulheres magazine. The Three Marias (she and Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Velho da Costa) are among the 50 Portuguese authors selected by António M. Feijó, João R. Figueiredo and Miguel Tamen, professors and essayists from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon, to appear in the book O Cânone published by Tinta da China in 2020. The Portuguese Ministry of Culture awarded her the Medal of Cultural Merit in 2020. In 2021 she was awarded the Casino da Póvoa Literary Prize 2021, at the Correntes d'Escritas literature festival, for her work Estranhezas. In the same year, she was honored at the International Literary Festival of the Interior, created in honor of the victims of the 2017 fires. On 21 April 2022, she was awarded the degree of Grand Officer of the Order of Liberty.
Personal life and death
Personal life and death
Horta was the daughter of Jorge Augusto da Silva Horta, Bastonary of the Ordem dos Médicos (General Medical Council of Portugal) and a university professor, and his wife D. Carlota Maria Mascarenhas, of the Marquesses of Fronteira, Counts of Torre and Counts of Coculim, and also Marquesses of Alorna (formerly Marquesses of Castelo Novo) and Counts of Assumar. She was married to Luís Barros, until his death in 20 November 2019. Her son, Luís Jorge Horta Barros, born on 4 April 1965, is married to Maria Antónia Martins Peças Pereira and has two sons, Bé and Tiago Horta Barros. Horta died in Lisbon on 4 February 2025, at the age of 87.
Works
Works
Espelho Inicial (1960) (poetry) Tatuagem (1961) Cidadelas Submersas (1961) Verão Coincidente (1962) Amor Habitado (1963) Candelabro (1964) Jardim de Inverno (1966) Cronista Não é Recado (1967) Minha Senhora de Mim (1967) (poetry) Ambas as Mãos sobre o Corpo (1970) Novas Cartas Portuguesas (1971) Ana (1974) Poesia Completa I e II (1983) Os Anjos (1983) O Transfer (1984) Ema (1984) Minha Mãe, Meu Amor (1984) Rosa Sangrenta (1987) Antologia Política (1994) A Paixão Segundo Constança H. (1994) O Destino (1997) A Mãe na Literatura Portuguesa (1999) As Luzes de Leonor (2011) As Palavras do Corpo – Antologia de Poesia Erótica (2012) A Dama e o Unicórnio (2013) Anunciações (2016)
In translation
In translation
"Seven Poems from Poesia Reunida (Collected Poetry)". Trans. Dean Thomas Ellis, The Puritan # 25 (Spring 2014 Supplement). Point of Honour: Selected Poems of Maria Teresa Horta. Trans. Lesley Saunders. (Two Rivers Press Ltd, 2019) ISBN 978-1-909747-47-0

Maria Isabel Barreno in Mural sobre as "Mulheres da Revolução de Abril", de Elton Hipólito (2019), en Vila Nova de Cerveira
Elton Hipólito · File:Vila_Nova_de_Cerveira_01-18c,_Mulheres_da_Revoluçâo_(Elton_Hipolito,_2019).jpg
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1937
Maria Teresa Horta born at Lisbon.
2025
Maria Teresa Horta died at Lisbon.
Awards
In December 2024, Maria Teresa Horta was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.As Três Marias: o antes, o depois e o impacto das ‘Novas Cartas Portuguesas’, Comunidade Cultura e Arte 29.07.2018
- 2.Poems from the Portuguese.
- 3.Biografia. 3 March 2016.
- 4.Patrick, Oona. Maria Teresa Horta: The Third Maria. Guernica. 15 April 2014.
- 5.Maria Teresa Horta. 2 December 2008.
- 6.Queirós, Luís Miguel. Um cânone da literatura portuguesa que quer valer pelos argumentos. PÚBLICO.
- 7.Lusa. Escritora Maria Teresa Horta distinguida com Medalha de Mérito Cultural. PÚBLICO.
- 8.Maria Teresa Horta vence prémio literário Correntes d'Escritas 2021. Notícias ao Minuto. 26 February 2021.
- 9.Maria Teresa Horta é a vencedora do Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa. C.M. da Póvoa de Varzim. 26 February 2021.
- 10.Manuel Alegre, Maria Teresa Horta e Carlos de Oliveira em destaque no Festival Literário Internacional do Interior. Jornal de Leiria. 4 June 2021.
- 11.Presidência da República Portuguesa. Entidades Nacionais Agraciadas com Ordens Portuguesas.
- 12.Morreu a escritora Maria Teresa Horta
- 13.BBC. BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year?. 3 December 2024.
- 14.Lusa. Maria Teresa Horta recusa-se a receber Prémio D. Dinis das mãos de Passos Coelho. ipsilon.publico.pt. 18 September 2012.
References
Citations
References
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Elsewhere in Books
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