“Where Islands Speak Through Art – From the Heart of the Azores to the Diaspora”

Memória da água-viva (A)

With the epigraph “Azorean cultural magazine,” it was published and owned by the Azorean Cultural Intervention Group, a pro-delegation of the Semente Cooperative in Lisbon. José Henrique dos Santos *Barros and Manuel Urbano *Bettencourt, the founders, appear as directors. It had its editorial office on Rodrigues Sampaio Street in that city. It published a zero issue in March 1978. Issue 6 opens announcing new directors (Emanuel Jorge Botelho and Eduardo Bettencourt Pinto) and a new place of publication (Ponta Delgada), starting with the following issue. This last issue was published in October 1980.

The editorial of the first issue states: “Nothing too ambitious, therefore, just what we have seen and what we want. Poorly as it is, as can be seen… that is what old austerity demands, and that seems to continue to be the price of really wanting to be independent… we intend to rethink ourselves as citizens participating in the history and culture of a people.

”We are not starting from scratch, of course. We are revisiting previous experiences and are aware that, fortunately, others of the same kind exist today.”

However, underlying the project of this magazine, the first on Azorean culture, was the objective of defining and defending the existence of Azorean literature based on democratic and universal ideological principles (cf. no. 5: 6-7).

It included contributions from Santos Barros, Urbano Bettencourt, Cristovão de *Aguiar, José Orlando *Bretão, João de *Melo, Carlos Faria, Emanuel *Félix, Luís Fagundes *Duarte, Ivone Chinita, Victor Rui Dores, Vasco Pereira da Costa, Eduíno de Jesus, Borges Martins, Álamo Oliveira, Onésimo Teotónio Almeida, and others.

Format 29.7 cm x 21 cm, variable number of pages, usually in two columns, printed in stencil, irregular frequency, includes studies, testimonials, poetry, reading notes, and news of the activities of this Intervention Group in Lisbon and the Azores.

Luís M. Arruda

Translation by Diniz Borges

From: Enciclopédia Açoriana

Mission Statement:

“In the Silence of Hydrangeas: Azorean Arts and Letters” is a weekly digital rubric under the Filamentos platform that seeks to illuminate the cultural, artistic, and literary richness of the Azores and its dynamic connection to the Azorean Diaspora. Each week, we highlight writers, poets, musicians, painters, sculptors, theater groups, and cultural movements that have emerged from or been inspired by this Atlantic archipelago. Our mission is to move beyond folkloric clichés and festive portrayals to reveal the profound creative spirit, complexity, and heritage that shape Azorean identity across generations and oceans.

Vision Statement:

We envision a living archive and vibrant stage where the voices, visions, and legacies of Azorean creators—on the islands and throughout the diaspora—are celebrated, preserved, and made accessible to global audiences. This rubric aims to educate, connect, and inspire by showcasing the Azores not as a distant, nostalgic memory, but as a creative force in continuous dialogue with the world. To know the Azores is not merely to attend a festa, but to listen to the poems etched in basalt, the canvases dyed in sea-light, and the stories whispered in the silence of hydrangeas.

Unveiling the Soul of the Azores – One Voice, One Creation at a Time