BIOGRAPHY

Joaquim Azinhal Abelho, was born in the parish of Orada, municipality of Borba in the 13th of April, 1911.
His parents were land-workers, he lived his childhood in the Monte do Rossio, in Orada.
He did his Elementary School final exam in his hometown and the High School in Estremoz then he travelled to Lisbon where he graduated in Roman Philology in the Faculty of Letters.
After teaching for a few years he dedicated himself almost exclusively to the literary activity.
He was a studious man and a researcher about ethnographic issues, mainly related to the Alentejo.
His passion for theatre led him to direct the Trindade Theatre and to make several cinematographic documentaries,
He compiled Florbela Espanca’s letters. .
He died in Lisbon in the 21st of January, 1979, but was buried in the cemetery of Nossa Senhora de Orada, municipality of Borba.

“Today I saw my picture in the museum and I cried. Maybe outside I’m fat and shabby, sinner and defendant with stains over my tic clothes.
No. The one who’s looking at me with that badly cut suit, similar to mine, also called Joaquim, I swear it isn’t me.
The child who fell at the feet of his mother, blond and rosy, almost thirty years ago, that really still resists.
Lies, strokes, all he saw and has, and he also has in his face disillusions,
But near his mum he is cherished and doesn’t feel sad.”

“Vi hoje o meu retrato no museu chorei. Talvez por fora seja assim gordo, ensebado, pecador e réu, com nódoas sôbre as vestes de cotim.
Não. O que está a olhar para mim de fato mal talhado, igual ao meu, de nome também de Joaquim, juro-te à fé de quem sou, que não sou eu.
O menino que caiu aos pés da mãi, loiro e rosado, há quási trinta anos
Esse sim, ainda é que persiste.
Mentiras, golpes, tudo viu e tem;
e  também tem no rosto desenganos, mas junto à mãi tem mimo e não está triste”.

Azinhal Abelho