Natália Correia, poeta, escritora, jornalista, feminista, mulher de paixões, nasceu em 1923, na ilha de São Miguel (Fajã de Baixo), Açores. Ainda criança muda-se para Lisboa com a sua mãe e irmã, onde estudou e iniciou a sua vasta obra literária (romance, poesia, ensaio, teatro).

Importante voz de oposição à ditadura, participou no Movimento de Unidade Democrática (MUD), no apoio às candidaturas para a Presidência da República de Norton de Matos e (1949) e de Humberto Delgado (1958) e na Comissão Eleitoral de Unidade Democrática (1969). Escreveu para diversas publicações nacionais e estrangeiras, foi também tradutora, guionista e dirigiu a Editora Arcádia. Foi uma figura central das tertúlias que reuniam em Lisboa nomes da cultura e da literatura portuguesas: primeiro em sua casa, nas décadas de 1950 e 1960, e a partir de 1971 no ‘Botequim’, na Graça. Editora da “Antologia da Poesia Portuguesa Erótica e Satírica”, em 1966, foi condenada a três anos de prisão, com pena suspensa, pela publicação desta obra considerada imoral e ofensiva dos “bons costumes”.

Em 1972, com a publicação das “Novas Cartas Portuguesas” cuja editoria assume, é acusada no processo que envolve Maria Teresa Horta, Maria Isabel barreno e Maria Velho da Costa, do qual seriam absolvidas poucos dias após o 25 de Abril de 1974.

Foi deputada à Assembleia da República (1980-1991) eleita nas listas do PPD-PSD. Em 1981 foi condecorada Grande-Oficial da Ordem Militar Sant’Iago da Espada; em 1991 recebeu o Grande Prémio de Poesia da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores pelo livro Sonetos Românticos; e no mesmo ano recebe a Ordem da Liberdade.

Corajosa e irreverente, a sua obra e vida são prova de um espírito à frente no seu tempo que, com determinação, abriu caminho importante nos direitos das mulheres e na sociedade portuguesa.

Natália Correia—poet, novelist, journalist, feminist, and a woman of ardent passions—was born in 1923 in Fajã de Baixo, on the Azorean island of São Miguel. While still a child, she moved with her mother and sister to Lisbon, where she pursued her education and began building the vast and many-sided body of work that would encompass fiction, poetry, essays, and theatre.

A powerful voice of resistance to the dictatorship, she took part in the Movement of Democratic Unity (MUD), supported the presidential candidacies of Norton de Matos in 1949 and Humberto Delgado in 1958, and joined the Electoral Commission for Democratic Unity in 1969. She wrote for numerous Portuguese and international publications and also worked as a translator and screenwriter, later becoming director of the Arcádia publishing house.

Natália was a luminous and commanding presence at the literary gatherings that brought together some of the most distinguished figures in Portuguese culture and letters. During the 1950s and 1960s, these gatherings took place in her own home; from 1971 onwards, they found their legendary setting at the Botequim, in Lisbon’s Graça district—a haven of conversation, dissent, imagination, and intellectual freedom.

In 1966, she edited the Anthology of Portuguese Erotic and Satirical Poetry. Deemed immoral and an affront to “public decency,” the volume led to her being sentenced to three years in prison, though the sentence was suspended.

In 1972, following the publication of New Portuguese Letters, for which she assumed editorial responsibility, she was charged in the celebrated trial involving Maria Teresa Horta, Maria Isabel Barreno, and Maria Velho da Costa. The writers would be acquitted only days after the Revolution of 25 April 1974 restored freedom to Portugal.

From 1980 to 1991, Natália Correia served as a member of the Assembly of the Republic, elected on the lists of the PPD–PSD. In 1981, she was made a Grand Officer of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword. In 1991, her collection Romantic Sonnets received the Grand Prize for Poetry from the Portuguese Writers’ Association; that same year, she was awarded the Order of Liberty.

Courageous, irreverent, and magnificently ungovernable, Natália Correia transformed both her life and her writing into acts of freedom. Hers was a spirit far ahead of its time—a woman who refused silence, resisted every imposed boundary, and, with passion and fierce determination, opened enduring paths for women’s rights and for a freer, more enlightened Portuguese society.