Cape Verde in Literature

Cape Verdean literature gives voice to the islands’ struggles and dreams, weaving history, identity, and exile into stories that resonate beyond their shores.

Literature

Cape Verdean literature is rooted in oral tradition. Still, it took a written form early in the 20th century, coinciding with the rise of Creole consciousness and the emergence of anti-colonial thought. From poetry to political essays, literature has become a medium through which writers have explored identity, migration, and resistance. The landmark journal Claridade, launched in 1936 by authors like Baltasar Lopes and Manuel Lopes, marked the birth of modern Cape Verdean letters and helped establish literature as a vehicle for national self-awareness. Themes of drought, exile, and longing recur often, echoing the lived realities of an island nation shaped by scarcity and emigration.

Today, Cape Verdean literature spans languages (Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole), continents (with a strong diasporic voice), and genres, from historical novels to experimental poetry. Though modest in size, it offers an enduring window into the soul of the archipelago.

Browse books
“Making of the Cape Verdean” by Manuel Costa

“Making of the Cape Verdean” by Manuel Costa

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The Making of the Cape Verdean is a book written about Cape Verdeans who migrated from the Cape Verde Islands in the late 1800’s to the 1970’s to New Bedford Massachusetts. The book is based on the historical facts about the Portuguese colonization of the Cape Verde islands and its people located off the West Coast of Africa. The author provides the history of colonization under Portuguese rule of Salazar and how the Cape Verdean people survived famine, imprisonment, torture, politcal unrest and the abandonment of the Portuguese government.

In addition, the author gives you a voyeuristic view of what life was like growing up in the Cape Verdean community in New Bedford after they migrated to the United States. This book is a powerful recap of of Cape Verdeans from this period and location. There is no other documentation that captures the Cape Verdeans the way “The Making of the Cape Verdean” does in this book.

Cape Verde’s Empresarias: Image and Reality

Cape Verde’s Empresarias: Image and Reality

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