Henry Nelson Coleridge

Nephew, son-in-law and editor of the famous poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Henry Nelson Coleridge was born on 25 October 1798 and died on 26 January 1843 at the age of 44. He visited Madeira in 1825, at the age of 26, and summed his trip up by stating, “I should think the situation of Madeira the most enviable on the whole earth. It ensures every European comfort with almost every tropical luxury.” 

His father was Colonel James Coleridge, of Ottery St. Mary. He was born on 25 October 1798. He was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow. In 1825, he accompanied his uncle, William Hart Coleridge, the bishop of Barbados, to the West Indies, and described his excursion in a bright and lively little book, Six Months in the West Indies in 1825, published anonymously in the following year. He wrote therein volubly on emancipation of slaves, which he enumerated at 800,000, and concluded with this declaration of love and devotion upon his return,

“But God bless thee, England, and crown thee with blessings, thou glorious land of my fathers! When I saw the two broad lights on the black Lizard again, my heart swelled with that unconquerable passion which I used to feel on returning from a distant school and sprinting into my dear mother's arms. O my country, I have no pride but that I belong to thee, and can write my name in the muster roll of mankind, an Englishman.”

In 1826, he was called to the bar, and in 1829 married his first cousin Sara, daughter of the poet, of whom he wrote three years earlier during their courtship,

“Now, reader, if you are an Englishman, (for I know nothing about the Scotch and Irish,) think over your own family, your sisters, or perhaps you have a cousin or so, ---. I love a cousin; she is such an exquisite relation, just standing between me and the stranger to my name, drawing upon so many sources of love and tieing them all up with every cord of human affection - almost my sister ere my wife!”

He was the author, as appears from Southey's correspondence, of The Life of Swing, a pamphlet called forth by the rick-burning disturbances of 1830, which went through several editions. In the same year he published an introduction to Homer, the first of a contemplated series on the Greek poets, which was not continued further.

He became Coleridge's literary executor on the death of the latter in 1834, and the short remainder of his life was chiefly devoted to the fulfilment of this trust. Coleridge's Literary Remains, Aids to Reflection, and Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit were edited by him. His most signal service, however, was the preservation of Coleridge's Table Talk, which he had taken down from his lips during a series of years, and of which he published in 1835 'such parts as seem fit for present publication.' How much was withheld we do not know. The work is accompanied by an eloquent preface, vindicating Coleridge's conversation from the charge of obscurity, and his literary character from the charge of plagiarism.

Henry Nelson Coleridge died on 26 January 1843, after long suffering from a spinal complaint. He was lecturer on equity to the Incorporated Law Society, and contributed several articles to the 'Quarterly Review.' He is described as singularly bright and animated when in health, which the general character of his writings tends to confirm. His son Herbert is separately noticed.

Spouse: Sara Coleridge

Relatives:

Captain James Coleridge (father)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (uncle)
William Hart Coleridge (uncle)
John Taylor Coleridge (brother)
Henry James Coleridge (brother)
Herbert Coleridge (son)

Selected Works:

The following works can be read or downloaded for free at Project Gutenberg:

-The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (4 volumes) 
-Specimens of the table talk of the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2 vols)

Text Records:

-Written on the last Leaf of Shakspeare (1820)
-On Charles Lamb's Poetry (1821)

Publications:

-Poetry of the college magazine (1819)
-Six months in the West Indies in 1825 (1826)
-Introductions to the study of the Greek classic poets. Pt. 1 (1830)
-The life of swing (1830)

Ernest Miller Hemingway

Famous author and journalist, Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in the affluent Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. His father was a doctor and his mother a musician.

As a young man, he was interested in writing. He wrote for and edited his high school’s newspaper, as well as the high school yearbook. Upon graduating from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1917, he worked for the Kansas City Star newspaper briefly, but in that short time, he learned the writing style that would shape nearly all of his future work.

As an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, Ernest Hemingway was wounded and spent several months in the hospital. While there, he met and fell in love with a Red Crossnurse named Agnes von Kurowsky. They planned to marry, but she became engaged to an Italian officer instead. This experience devastated Hemingway, and Agnes became the basis for the female characters in his subsequent short stories “A Very Short Story” (1925) and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936), as well as the famous novel “A Farewell To Arms” (1929). This would also start a pattern Ernest would repeat for the rest of his life – leaving women before they had the chance to leave him first.

Ernest Hemingway began work as a journalist upon moving to Paris in the early 1920s, but he still found time to write. He was at his most prolific in the 20s and 30s. His first short story collection, aptly titled “Three Stories and Ten Poems,” was published in 1923. His next short story collection, “In Our Time,” published in 1925, was the formal introduction of the vaunted Hemingway style to the rest of the world, and considered one of the most important works of 20th century prose. He would then go on to write some of the most famous works of the 20th century, including “A Farewell to Arms,” “The Sun Also Rises,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “The Old Man and the Sea.” He also in.

In 1954, Ernest Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature. That summer, on June 15^th , the Italian ship Francesco Morosini made a brief stop at Funchal, the capital city of Madeira Island. Among the ship’s passengers were Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Mary Welsh Hemingway. It was the world-famous writer’s first and only visit to the Island dubbed as ‘Pearl of the Atlantic’. Hemingway appears not to have left any record of his visit to Madeira, but his wife did. In her memoir, How It Was (New York: Knopf, 1976), Mary Welsh Hemingway offers a short account of the 1954 visit. Playing for the moment the travel writer, she recalls wine, the porcelain plaques, and the basket-sledding down the mountain on her brief sighseeing tour.

It is believed, however, that Ernest Hemingway had never gone ashore. Instead, he chose to remain aboard the Francesco Morosini, which, as scheduled, sailed later in the day. The reason as to why he never escorted his wife ashore still remains a mystery to this day.

Ernest Hemingway lived most of his later years in Idaho. He began to suffer from paranoia, believing the FBI was aggressively monitoring him. In November of 1960 he began frequent trips to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for electroconvulsive therapy – colloquially known as “shock treatments.” He had his final treatment on June 30, 1961. Two days later, on July 2, 1961, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a twelve-gauge shotgun. He was a few weeks short of his 62nd birthday. This wound up being a recurring trend in his family; his father, as well as his brother and sister, also died by committing suicide. The legend of Hemingway looms large, and his writing style is so unique that it left a legacy in literature that will endure forever.

Elijah Wood

 

Yes, that's right, even Hollywood's best have been to Madeira. First, it was James Bond. Now, it's Frodo! 
On Saturday November 12^th 2016 Elijah Wood flew to Madeira. (Is it a coincidence, an irony or an omen that Elijah's surname 'Wood' translates to 'Madeira' in Portuguese?) Anyhow, that evening he and his buddy Zach Cowie performed at a nightclub in Funchal where they were greeted with much enthusiasm. Their ‘disco and tribal rythm mix’ was an instant hit amongst all those who were present. Indeed, an unforgettable experience!
Born on January 28th 1981, Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor, voice actor, DJ, and producer. He is best known for his role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–03).

Wood made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II (1989). Landing a succession of larger roles, he was critically acclaimed as a child actor by age nine, being nominated for several Young Artist Awards. Notable films during this period include: 

Avalon (1990)

Paradise (1991)

Radio Flyer, Forever Young (both 1992)

The Adventures of Huck Finn and The Good Son (both 1993).

He then transitioned into teenage roles with the following films: 

North, The War (both 1994)

Flipper (1996)

The Ice Storm (1997)

Deep Impact and The Faculty (both 1998)

Following The Lord of the Rings, he has chosen varied roles in films such as: 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), 

Sin City, Green Street, Everything Is Illuminated (all 2005), 

Paris, je t'aime, Bobby (both 2006), 

Celeste and Jesse Forever, Maniac (both 2012), 

Grand Piano (2013), 

The Last Witch Hunter (2015), 

The Trust (2016), and 

I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017).

Wood provided the voice of Mumble in the animated films Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet Two (2011), as well as the eponymous lead in the Tim Burton-produced 9 (2009). He was the voice of Spyro in the Legend of Spyro video game trilogy (2006–08). He also provided the voice of Beck on the Disney XD series Tron: Uprising (2012–13), and starred as Wirt in the Cartoon Network miniseries Over the Garden Wall (2014).

From 2011–14, Wood played the role of Ryan Newman on the FX television series Wilfred, for which he received a nomination for the Satellite Award for Best Actor.

From 2016–17, he starred as Todd Brotzman on the BBC America series Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Wood has his own record label, Simian Records, which he founded in 2005.

In 2010, he founded the production company SpectreVision, which specializes in producing horror films.

In addition to producing and acting, Wood has become a well-known DJ. Together with his friend Zach Cowie, they formed Wooden Wisdom and have toured around the world.

Wood and Cowie debuted in Portugal on Friday November 11^th 2016 at the MusicBox nightclub in Lisbon.

All in all, Wood has clearly lived up to the words of his Hollywood character, “a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go.” In this case, as far as Madeira and beyond...lol.

MIa Couto

António Emílio Leite Couto (born 5 July 1955), better known as Mia Couto, is a Mozambican writer and the winner of the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. He was the host of the sixth edition of the Literary Festival of Madeira, which took place in April 2016.

Couto was born in the city of Beira, Mozambique's second largest city, where he was also raised and schooled. He is the son of Portuguese emigrants who moved to the Portuguese colony in the 1950s. When he was 14, some of his poetry was published in a local newspaper, Notícias da Beira. Three years later, in 1971, he moved to the capital Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) and began to study medicine at the University of Lourenço Marques. During this time, the anti-colonial guerrilla and political movement FRELIMO was struggling to overthrow the Portuguese colonial rule in Mozambique.

In April 1974, after the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon and the overthrow of the Estado Novo regime, Mozambique was about to become an independent republic. In 1974, FRELIMO asked Couto to suspend his studies for a year to work as a journalist for Tribuna until September 1975 and then as the director of the newly created Mozambique Information Agency (AIM). Later, he ran Tempo magazine until 1981. His first book of poems, Raiz de Orvalho, was published in 1983; it included texts aimed against the dominance of Marxist militant propaganda. Couto continued working for the newspaper Notícias until 1985 when he resigned to finish his course of study in biology.

Not only is Mia Couto considered one of the most important writers in Mozambique, but his works have been published in more than 20 countries and in various languages, including Portuguese, English, French, German, Czech, Italian, Serbian, Catalan and Estonian. In many of his texts, he undertakes to recreate the Portuguese language by infusing it with regional vocabulary and structures from Mozambique, thus producing a new model for the African narrative. Stylistically, his writing is influenced by magical realism, a movement popular in modern Latin American literatures, and his use of language is reminiscent of the Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa, but also deeply influenced by the baiano writer Jorge Amado. He has been noted for creating proverbs, sometimes known as "improverbs", in his fiction, as well as riddles, legends, metaphors, giving his work a poetic dimension.

An international jury at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair named his first novel, Terra Sonâmbula (Sleepwalking Land), one of the best 12 African books of the 20th century. In 2007, he became the first African author to win the prestigious Latin Union literary prize, which has been awarded annually in Italy since 1990. Mia Couto became only the fourth writer in the Portuguese language to take home this prestigious award, having competed against authors from Portugal, France, Colombia, Spain, Italy, and Senegal. Currently, he is a biologist employed by the Limpopo Transfrontier Park while continuing his work on other writing projects.

Awards and honours include the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the 2013 Camões Prize and the 2007 Latin Union Prize.

Max – The Fado Singer

Maximiano de Sousa, commonly known as Max, was one of the most popular fado singers from the 1940s until well after his death in 1980.

Maximiano de Sousa, known to most people as Max, was born in Funchal on January 20,1918. It was here where his career started. He was a tailor, and even after becoming an artist, he long maintained that profession. In 1936 he began working at night in a hotel bar in Funchal as a singer and continued to work as a tailor during the day. In 1957, he left for the United States where he remained for two years, afterward he toured Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina. He died on May 29, 1980.

Selected discography:

·         Noites da Madeira/Bailinho da Madeira (78, VC, 1949)

·         Bailinho da Madeira/Noites da Madeira (Single, Decca/VC, 1956)

·         A Mula da Cooperativa / A Coisa / O Magala / O Homem do Trombone (Columbia)

·         Porto Santo

·         31

·         Sinal da Cruz

·         Pomba Branca, Pomba Branca/Quando a Dor Bateu à Porta (Single, Decca/VC, 1974)

·         As Bordadeira

·         Casei com uma Velha

·         Júlia Florista

·         Maria Rapaz

·         Maria tu tens a mania

·         Mas sou fadista

·         Mula da Cooperativa

·         Nem ás paredes confesso

·         Noite

·         O Magala

·         Pomba Branca

·         Porto Santo

·         Rosinha dos Limões

·         Saudades da Ilha

·         Sinal da Cruz

·         Vielas de Alfama