Biography

Nuno Judice (29 April 1949 – 17 March 2024) was a Portuguese essayist, poet, writer, novelist and academic. Júfice was a poet and fiction writer. He was born in Mexilhoeira Grande, Algarve. His literary debut was with the Concept of Poem in 1972. He graduated in Romance Philology from the University of Lisbon and obtained the degree of Doctor from the New University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova), where he was a full professor, presenting in 1989 a thesis on Medieval Literature. He published anthologies, critical editions of literary studies and maintained as a regular contributor in the press. He received Spain's Queen Sofia Ibero-American Poetry Prize in 2013, awarded by the Spanish National Heritage and the University of Salamanca, in the amount of 42,100 euros. He was a member of the editorial board of the magazine Time and Mode between 1969 and 1974. He was the commissioner for the area of Literature "Portugal as a country-theme" at the 49th Frankfurt Book Fair. As a popularizer of Portuguese literature of the twentieth century, he launched in 1993, "Voyage dans un siècle de la Littérature Portugaise". He also organized the European Week of Poetry, under the "Lisbon'94 - European Capital of Culture". In 1996, he released the literary magazine Tobacconist, edited by "Casa Fernando Pessoa". In 1997, he was appointed Cultural Counselor of the Embassy of Portugal and Director of the Camões Institute in Paris. In 2009, he assumed the direction of Colóquio Letras published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He had works translated in Spain, Italy, Venezuela, England and France, where he published Un chant dans l’épaisseur du temps in the Collection Poésie chez Éditions Gallimard. He also continued to work for theater and translated authors such as Molière, Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson in his later years. His name was assigned to the Poetry Prize of the City Council Aveiro, Portugal. He was curator for the cultural area José Saramago Foundation, created in 2008. He received the degree of "Oficial da Ordem de Santiago e Espada" (Officer of the Order of Santiago and Sword), in Portugal, and in France, the Officier degree of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of Arts and Letters).

Nuno Júdice died on 17 March 2024, at the age of 74.