Judite Teixeira

Judith Teixeira
Born	Judite Teixeira 25 January 1880 Viseu, Portugal
Died	17 May 1959(1959-05-17) (aged 79) Lisbon, Portugal
Occupation	writer, publisher
Language	Portuguese

Judith Teixeira (25 January 1880 - 17 May 1959) was a Portuguese writer. She published three books of poetry and a book of short stories, among other writings. In 1925, she founded the magazine Europa, of which three issues were published (April, May and June). Her book Decadência (1923) was seized, along with the books of António Botto and Raul Leal, by the Civil Government of Lisbon as a result of a campaign led by the conservative Liga de Acção dos Estudantes de Lisboa (Action League of the Students of Lisbon) against "decadent artists, poets of Sodom, the publishers, authors and sellers of immoral books."^[1] She disappeared from public life in 1927, dying in Lisbon in 1959.

Judith Teixeira was born on 25 January 1880 in Viseu, and was baptized on February 1 of the same year, in the Viseu cathedral, as the natural daughter of Maria do Carmo; the name of the father was not included in the certificate of baptism.^[2] In 1907, she was adopted by Francisco dos Reis Ramos, an ensign in the infantry.^[3] She was single at the time, and resided in Lisbon, at number 70 of Rua do Arco do Carvalhão.

Some time later, she married Jaime Levy Azancot, with whom she lived with in Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca. On 8 March 1913 the marriage was dissolved, the wife being accused of adultery and abandonment of legal domicile.^[4] On 22 April 1914 in Bussaco, she married Álvaro Virgílio de Franco Teixeira, 26, a lawyer and industrialist.^[5]

It was in her forties, between 1922 and 1927, that Teixeira published all her books and directed the magazine Europa. Due to the lesbian themes of some of her poems, she was violently attacked in the conservative and moralist press for "sexual shamelessness" and "ignoble doggerel".^[6] In 1927, she was absent from Portugal, as indicated by a note inserted at the end of her short-story collection Satânia, the last book she published.^[7]

Nothing is known about the last 32 years of her life. She died on 17 May 1959 at age 79. At the time of death, she resided in Lisbon, at number 3 of Praceta Padre Francisco, Campo de Ourique. According to her death certificate, she died a widow, was childless, owned no property, and did not leave a will.^[8]

• Decadência. Poemas (1923)
• Castelo de Sombras. Poemas (1923)
• Nua. Poemas de Bizâncio (1926)
• De Mim. Conferência (1926)
• Satânia. Novelas (1927)

• Andreia Boia, Que o desejo me desça ao corpo. Judith Teixeira e a literatura sáfica. Master's thesis, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto, Porto 2013.
• Samantha Pious, trans., "As the Sun dies" ("Quando o Sol morre"), "More Kisses" ("Mais Beijos"), and "Twilight" ("Crepusculo"). Lavender Review 26 (December 2022).