Isabel Rio Novo and João de Melo: writing and time

The session took place at Largo de Santo Ildefonso (Batalha), moderated by Sérgio Almeida, with readings by Cristiana Sabino

Memory, history, and the identity of writing were among the themes explored during the literary conversation featuring Isabel Rio Novo and João de Melo as part of the BABELL programme. Held at Largo de Santo Ildefonso (Batalha), the session was moderated by Sérgio Almeida and accompanied by readings from Cristiana Sabino. It brought together two of the most distinguished voices in contemporary Portuguese literature to reflect on how writing preserves the past while continually assigning it new meanings.

Although their literary paths have followed different directions, Isabel Rio Novo and João de Melo share a deep engagement with both individual and collective memory. During the discussion, they reflected on how their work creates an ongoing dialogue between historical reality and literary imagination. From biography to the novel, and from island landscapes to shared social experiences, both writers demonstrated how literature can recover lives, places, and events, revealing dimensions of human experience that often lie beyond the reach of historical accounts.

Throughout the conversation, it became clear that memory is not merely an act of remembrance but also a process of construction. Balancing the rigour of research with the freedom of fiction, the two authors reflected on the responsibility of telling stories and preserving what time inevitably seeks to erase.

It was in this context that Isabel Rio Novo shared one of the session's most memorable reflections, describing artistic creation as a form of resistance against forgetting. "Art, in general, is that futile yet beautiful attempt to reach out against the current and try to prevent it from carrying everything away," she said.

João de Melo also highlighted literature's essential role in understanding the past, arguing that facts alone are not enough to explain human experience. "Textbooks may tell us everything (...), but they do not contain the feeling of an era, nor an understanding of cause within time and space," he remarked.

For the writer, it is precisely this emotional and human dimension that distinguishes literature from a simple historical account, allowing readers to understand not only what happened, but also how those events were experienced by the people who lived through them.