This year marks the centenary of the birth of Prof. Maria de Lourdes Belchior and we are organizing a colloquium at the Faculty of Letters in Porto on December 11, entitled Maria de Lurdes Belchior (1923-2023): a woman and books. As you know, she was – along with Maria de Lourdes Pintassilgo – the first female Secretary of State (as it was called at the time) after the Carnation Revolution, working in the Ministry of Education, in the Cultural Affairs and Scientific Research portfolio, during the first three provisional governments. He also held a number of other public positions, notably at the Institute of High Culture. Here in Porto she only taught for one year (1969-1970), but she founded the Romance department and later received an honorary doctorate in 1996.

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