Baltasar Lopes da Silva

Baltasar Lopes da Silva (23 April 1907 – 8 May 1989 ) was a writer, poet and linguist from Cape Verde, who wrote in both Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole. With Manuel Lopes and Jorge Barbosa, he was the founder of Claridade. In 1947 he published Chiquinho, considered the greatest Cape Verdean novel and O dialecto crioulo de Cabo Verde which describes different dialects of creoles of Cape Verde. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Osvaldo Alcântara.

Ressaca, his work of poems can be found on the CD Poesia de Cabo Verde e Sete Poemas de Sebastião da Gama by Afonso Dias.

Biography Baltasar Lopes da Silva was born in the village of Calejão on the island of São Nicolau in Cape Verde on April 23, 1907. he was one of the excellent students at the university. Afterwards, he returned to Cape Verde and was professor at Liceu Gil Eanes in Mindelo, São Vicente island, for a few years, he was also the lyceum's rector. He returned to Portugal again and educated in Leiria for a short time, during the difficulties of relationship with Portuguese politics that occurred that time, he returned to Cape Verde where he continued his education and advocacy. His last days were spent in Lisbon, where he was transferred for treatment of a cerebrovascular disease and died shortly afterwards on May 28, 1989.

In 1947, Lopes published his first book, the novel Chiquinho. Chiquinho describes in detail the customs, people, landscapes, and social problems of Cape Verde in early twentieth century. It is a coming-of-age novel about the people of Cape Verde and the step that many Cape Verdeans had to take to achieve a better life: emigration. The novel is organized into three parts: "São Vicente," in which Chiquinho continues his education in high school on the island of São Vicente, where he meets new friends and his first love Nuninha. Chiquinho and his classmates found the Grémio, an association and a journal that is very similar to Claridade, in the sense that it attempts to change the social environment of the archipelago. A Caderneta Cabo Verde visto por Gilberto Freyre [Cape Verde Visited by Gilberto Freyre] (1956) O dialecto crioulo de Cabo Verde, a description of the Cape Verdean creole language (1957). Cântico da Manhã Futura (1986), volume of poetry published under the name Osvaldo Alcântara

He was featured on a Cape Verdean $500 escudo note which was issued between 1992 and 2000. On the back is Ilhéu dos Passaros and its ships.