Orlando António Fernandes da Costa (July 1929,
Maputo − 27 January 2006) was a
Portuguese writer of
Goan paternal and
Mozambican-
French maternal descent whose writings express his experiences of life in
Goa.[1] According to Everton Machado, his book O Último Olhar de Manú Miranda is a good introduction to know Indo-Portuguese literature.[2] He was the father of former Portuguese Prime Minister
Antonio Costa, by his first wife
Maria Antónia Palla.[3]
Costa was maternal cousin to
Sérgio Vieira, a politician in Mozambique.[4]
After being raised in
Margao (Goa), Costa spent in the 1950s, most of his time in the House of the Students of the Empire, an institution mainly built to house students from the colonies that were studying in the
metropole. There, he came in contact with many of the future leaders of the nationalist movements of the colonies, such as the
MPLA, the
FRELIMO and the
PAIGC. Between 1950 and 1953, he was arrested three times by the
Salazar government.[5][6] A few days before he died, on January 5, 2006, he received from
Jorge Sampaio's hands the degree of Commander of the Order of Liberty.[7]
^Ben Antao, 'Goan Literature in English', Muse India, 64 (November–December 2015),
"Welcome to Muse India". Archived from
the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015..