The hymn! How it mornas!
And the funaná! As a flag
And of Eugenio´s verses
And of Aurelio´s stories
Stones fell
Stones beat on the beauty of homeland 
                    How! These anniversaries
                                            (Fragment of the poem titled Stone of Identity)

He was born in Mindelo, a region in Cape Verde´s San Vicente, on 14 February 1933. He studied Law at the University of Lisbon, and afterwards worked as a professor and judge of the Labour Court. After the independence of Cape Verde, he was the ambassador for his country in various European and African nations. Fortes has also been the Minister of Justice and Magistrate.

He has collaborated through his literary works in various mass media and magazines, such as Claridade, Cape Verde, Raízes and Africa, and he has also been the President of the Cape Verdean Writers Association. Some of his poems have been included in various African poetry anthologies.

In line with the political independence process, the 1960s represented Cape Verde´s literary maturity, in a context of universalisation for this literature. Corsino Fortes is positioned in this universalist line. The liberation process, the oppression, the island´s identity, and the oral poetry of the Mornas (Cape Verde´s musical genre that is related to the Portuguese fado, the Brazilian modinha, the Argentinan tango and the Angolan cry) all form part of his poetry with an epic tone.

His work includes titles such as: Pão e Fonema (1974), Árvore & Tombor (1986) and Pedras de Sol & Substância (2001). His combined poetic work was published under the title of A Cabeça Calva de Deus (2001), which has been the focus of various studies and anthologies in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch.

Sources:

• Biography in Ikuska

• Information in the Medellín Poetry Festival website

Additional information:

• Poems by the writer

• The poet´s participation in the Medellín Poetry Festival