Maria Ondina Braga

Maria Ondina Braga (1922–2003), was a Portuguese writer and translator, particularly known for her novels and short stories that are set mainly in Asia.

Early life Braga was born on 13 January 1922 in the centre of the city of Braga in the north of Portugal. She lived in a cultured family, which influenced her writing. Her uncle provided for her education, which included learning to speak French, and encouraged her taste for unknown lands. After completing her secondary education at the Liceu Sá de Miranda in Braga in 1938, she suffered a serious illness that led to depression, a negative body image and suicidal thoughts, which were revealed in her writing. In 1949 she self-published her first book of poems, to be followed by another three years later.

She left Braga in 1956 to improve her English language, working as an au pair in Worcester and taking a lengthy holiday in Scotland with her host family, before completing a course at the Royal Society of Arts in London. She then went to Paris to study French, while working as a children's tutor in Versailles, returning to Portugal in 1959.

Writing and translation Braga returned to Lisbon in 1964 and then devoted herself exclusively to writing and translation, translating works by, among others, Erskine Caldwell, Graham Greene, Bertrand Russell, Herbert Marcuse and Tzvetan Todorov into Portuguese. She also contributed travel articles to various newspapers and magazines, including Diário de Notícias, Diário Popular, A Capital, Panorama, Colóquio, published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and Mulher.

In 2018 the Portuguese Writers' Association and the Braga City Council introduced a prize for travel literature in her name.