[Diniz Borges asked me to provide a few words about my 2026 calendar, “O último calendário eletrónico ~ Uma síntese” (“The final online calendar ~ Summing up”), because each month this year the Filamentos blog is posting that month’s page, along with my brief explanation of its contents. — Katharine F. Baker.]

      The first thing I discovered Álamo Oliveira and I had in common was that we both bled Blue and Gold. But in my defense, I’m a second-generation native Berkeleyan, and University of California grad who’s known the campus all her life. So imagine my double-take when a few weeks before my first visit to the Azores I opened the newspaper Diário Insular online, only to be greeted by Cal’s Campanile. The issue featured an interview with a Terceiran author recently returned from a writer’s residency at the University, which had impressed him greatly.

      Being an Old Blue, I naturally wanted to meet Álamo while in Angra do Heroísmo, so I emailed then-director of Cal’s Portuguese program Deolinda Adão, who replied, “In addition to being very talented, Mr. Oliveira is a wonderful person, and I am sure you would love to meet him.” The rest is history — including two years later joining Diniz Borges in translating Álamo’s landmark novel of immigration, I No Longer Like Chocolates.

      Over the years I saw Álamo socially and professionally many times in the Azores and U.S. One high point was participating in a round-table on translating during the 2009 colloquium he organized at the University of the Azores, “Escritas Dispersas ~ Convergência de Afectos,” sponsored by the Azores government’s Direção Regional das Comunidades.

      Over his long, prolific career as a novelist, poet, essayist, playwright, theater director and artist, Álamo was recognized with many awards. In 2005 he was among the youngest Portuguese poets memorialized with a plaque on Praia da Vitória’s Passeio dos Poetas. Other honors included the Prémio de Teatro Almeida Garrett for his play A Solidão da Casa do Regalo, and the Maré Viva prize for his novel of the colonial African war, Até Hoje (Memórias de Cão). He was one of three major Azorean writers profiled in the documentary Aventuras do Espirito. His writings have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Slovenian, Croatian, Japanese and Tetum (East Tmor).

      In 2010 Álamo was awarded the Comendador da Ordem de Mérito by the President of Portugal, and the Insígnia Autonómica de Reconhecimento from the Azores government. He has Wikipedia pages in Portuguese and English.

      Álamo was a generous, loyal, compassionate friend and colleague to all. Read more about him at: http://www.inolongerlikechocolates.com.