The author was born on the island of Boa Vista (Cape Verde) in 1945. He completed a Law degree from the Classic University of Lisbon. He has lived in San Vicente since 1979, where he works as a lawyer.

Almeida published his first stories in the Ponto e Virgula magazine, signing them with the pseudonym of Romualdo Cruz. These stories, revised or re-written, in addition a few others that had never been seen, were published in 1994 with the title of La isla fantástica, which along with A familia trago, published in 1998, recreate the years of his childhood and the social and familiar environment on the island of Boa Vista.

O meu poeta (1990), Estóreas de dentro de casa (1996), A morte do meu poeta (1998) and As memórias de um espírito (2001) comprise what could be known as the author´s Mindelense cycle. In general, the first and second titles describe Mindelo´s public and political life, while Estóreas takes us to the domestic world and Las memorias to his intimate life. The idea of a cycle is strengthened by the fact that many of the characters appear more or less frequently in all four books.

His extensive work also includes titles such as El testamento del señor Napumoceno da Silva Araújo (1991), Doña Pura y los camaradas de abril (1999), O mar na Lajinha (2004) and Eva (2006).

Germano Almeida was the founder and co-director of the Ponto e Virgula magazine, co-owner and director of the Aguaviva newspaper, and he is a partner of the Ilheu editorial, which published his work in Cape Verde. His work is edited in Portugal by the Caminho editorial. He has also been edited in Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Norway and Denmark.

Sources:

• Casa África

Additional information:

• 'Letras africanas' (African Letters) with the Cape Verdean author Germano Almeida

• Consult the availability of publications at the Casa África Media Library