A new segment of Filamentos!

“Bridging worlds, one word at a time.”

“We are installed in life as if we ourselves didn’t exist, as if we were the very world that exists, the very reality that is, its absolute presence of being. And the mere thought that it is the world that depends on us, that its wonder is suspended for us from our gaze, makes us dizzy. What wonder that a small technical invention disturbs us, opens up the old question? After embracing the earth, after holding it in our hands like the small ball of a powerful god, after confronting each other in our races, in our millennially solitary dreams, after exhausting our mutual search, we have just ripped open the spaces beyond where our imagination discovers the emptiness that surrounds us, discovers, with a shudder, our poor globe lost in the dust of the stars, remembers, with new evidence, the infinitude of the distances that unite it to the universe.”

• Letter to the Future, 1966
• Translation by Diniz Borges

Brief Biography

Vergílio Ferreira (born Jan. 28, 1916, Melo, Port.—died March 1, 1996, Sintra) was a Portuguese teacher and novelist who turned from an early social realism to more experimental and inward-looking forms of the novel.

Ferreira’s literary career began during World War II, and his novels of the 1940s were written in the prevailing social realist (or Neorealist) style that had dominated Portuguese fiction since 1930. Works published during this phase of his career are Onde tudo foi morrendo (1944; “Where All Was Dying”) and Vagão J (1946; “Car J”). Beginning with Mudança (1949; “Change”), however, Ferreira moved away from the social concerns of his earlier fiction and toward an increasingly introspective and existential focus, which continued to prevail in his later works.

In his psychological novels published after 1950, Ferreira probed the recesses of the human condition in a search for meaning and the process of self-discovery. Of the novels of this period—Manhã Submersa (1954; “Submerged Morning”), Aparição (1959; “Apparition”), Cântico final (1959; “Final Song”), Estrela polar (1962; “Polar Star”), Alegria breve (1965; “Brief Joy”), among others—the best known is Aparição, which explores the relationship of a teacher with his students in an almost essayistic manner; lengthy philosophical monologues and dialogues characterize this quasi-existentialist work, which widely influenced contemporary Portuguese fiction.

In addition to his later novels Para sempre (1983; “Always”) and Até ao fim (1987; “To the End”), Ferreira published a diary, Conta-corrente, 9 vol. (1980–94; “Current Account”).

Brief biography from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vergilio-Ferreira

We thank the Luso-American Education Foundation for their support.

“Bridging worlds, one word at a time.”

Vision Statement

“Whispers of the Written” envisions a world where the voices of Portuguese-language writers resonate beyond linguistic borders. By bringing their words to an English-speaking audience, we celebrate the literary heritage of Lusophone cultures and foster a deeper understanding of the universal human experience through storytelling and poetry.

Mission Statement

“Whispers of the Written” is a dedicated space for Portuguese-language writers to share their voices in translation, ensuring their words are heard, felt, and understood across cultures. We curate and present poetry, prose, and reflections from Portugal, Brazil, and the Lusophone diaspora, preserving their essence while making them accessible to a wider audience. We aim to build bridges between languages, histories, and emotions through thoughtful translation and literary engagement—one word at a time.