NYBALF returns to Harlem, September 18–20. Free Festival Registration is open →
João Melo
Poet • Writer
João Melo (born 1955) is an Angolan writer, poet, journalist and academic born in Luanda, Angola. He studied Law in Portugal and Angola, later earning degrees in Journalism and Communication and Culture in Brazil.
A founding member of the União dos Escritores Angolanos (Union of Angolan Writers), Melo writes poetry, short fiction, essays and chronicles. His work often explores Angolan identity, politics, race, gender and the complexities of post-independence society. His notable works include Filhos da Pátria, O Homem Que Não Tira o Palito da Boca and Polis, Poiesis. In 2009, he received Angola’s National Prize for Culture and Arts in Literature. (portaldaliteratura.com)
Events featuring
this guest
Sunday Sept. 20 2026 • 2:30 PM | Harlem Stage Gatehouse
Black Writing in Portuguese
Conceição Evaristo · João Melo · Dr. Calila das Mercês
The Portuguese-speaking Black world rarely enters the Anglophone Pan-African conversation, though it stretches across Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Portugal, and their diasporas. This bilingual conversation considers what happens when Black writers take a language inherited through colonial rule and make it answerable to lives, histories, rhythms, and communities it was never designed to hold.