Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) was a Portuguese modernist poet and writer, born in Lisbon. He spent part of his youth in Durban, South Africa, and later returned to Lisbon, where he worked mainly as a commercial translator and lived a largely private life. Pessoa is famed for writing through multiple “heteronyms”—fully developed authorial personas with distinct styles and biographies—most notably Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, and Álvaro de Campos. His only Portuguese-language book published in his lifetime was *Mensagem* (1934). After his death, a vast archive revealed much of his work, including the posthumously assembled *The Book of Disquiet*.