The Instituto Açoriano de Cultura will host the presentation of the book Meu Poema é Isto. Poesia Reunida by Azorean poet Rui Duarte Rodrigues on Saturday, March 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the IAC Gallery in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island.

The session will feature a presentation by writer and educator Manuel Jorge Lobão. Published by the Instituto Açoriano de Cultura, the volume brings together for the first time the complete poetic work of Rui Duarte Rodrigues, offering readers a comprehensive view of his literary production.

The book includes the two poetry collections published during the author’s lifetime—Os Meninos Morrem Dentro dos Homens (1970) and Com Segredos e Silêncios (1994)—as well as previously scattered poems, unpublished texts, and other materials. The research, compilation, and editorial organization of the volume were carried out by literary scholar Luiz Fagundes Duarte, who also authored the book’s editorial note.

Meu Poema é Isto. Poesia Reunida becomes the sixth title in the IAC’s Poesia collection and represents an important contribution to the preservation and study of contemporary Azorean poetry.

Rui Duarte Rodrigues (1951–2004) was born, lived, and died in Angra do Heroísmo. A student at the Liceu Nacional de Angra do Heroísmo, he directed the student newspaper Vida Académica during his school years. After completing military service as a militia sergeant, he published poems and chronicles in local newspapers. In 1978 he joined RDP Açores as a journalist, remaining there until his sudden death on March 26, 2004, while on assignment.

Though he published only two books during his lifetime, Rodrigues maintained a steady literary presence through poems and journalistic writing. Those works—together with additional unpublished poems gathered after his death—form the core of this newly released collection.

The presenter, Manuel Jorge Lobão, was born in Ponta Delgada on January 30, 1951, and grew up on Graciosa Island, where he completed his early schooling. He later pursued secondary studies in Porto and continued his academic training in economics at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras (ISCEF) in Lisbon. In 1976 he began a long career as a teacher of mathematics and natural sciences at the Escola Básica e Secundária da Graciosa, where he remained until his retirement in 2016.

In the literary field, Lobão was a finalist in the 1987 Concurso Revelação of the Associação Portuguesa de Escritores with the work Do Caos ao Cosmos, which received a recommendation for publication. In 1999 he shared the Prémio Natália Correia with playwright Norberto Ávila for his poetry collection Passam seres luminosos vestidos de vermelho, later published. His poems have also appeared in the anthology Poiesis, volume XI, as well as in several regional publications.

Today, Lobão continues to share new poetry with readers through social media, particularly Facebook, where he regularly publishes recent work.