Yara
Nakahanda
Monteiro

Writer in residence October 2022

We are excited to introduce the luso-angolan writer, social critic, and speaker Yara Nakahanda Monteiro as our second writer for T-Yard Writers Residency. Yara Nakahanda Monteiro was born in Angola in 1979, but grew up in Portugal, due to the Angolan civil war. She has temporarily lived in several cities, such as Rio de Janeiro, Luanda, London, Copenhagen, and Athens. She has a background from studying screenwriting, contemporary art and graduated in human resources. Monteiro writes poetry and fiction and has also collaborated in the creation of scripts and screenplays for audiovisual arts. Her stories and poetry have been published in various magazines such as Granta and Revista Pessoa. She has become a regular guest speaker at universities on topics like feminism and Afro-European identities and narratives. In her own words: she is a great-great-granddaughter of slavery, a great-granddaughter of racial intermarriage, a granddaughter of independence and a daughter of the diaspora. Her poetry collection “ Memories Apparitions and Arrhythmias” won the 2022 International Poetry Prize Glória de Sant’Anna. Her debut novel “Essa dama bate bué!” (2018) is translated in several languages. Monteiro is additionally a certified Shivananda Yoga teacher, Ayurveda therapist and a practitioner of the Marina Abramovic method. During her time in Bergen Monteiro will share her insights in African literature in Portuguese language, and connect with Norwegian contemporary writers, publishers, and artists.

Photo: Dirk Skiba