Julieta de Melo Monteiro

Monteiro was born in Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul on 21 October 1855.^[1] Coming from a literary family, she was the daughter of the poet Revocata dos Passos Figueiroa de Melo and of João Correia de Melo, and niece of Amália dos Passos Figueiroa, a poet and journalist. Her sister, Revocata Heloísa de Melo was also a poet and journalist. She had four brothers, three of whom would die at a young age. Monteiro married the Portuguese poet Francisco Guilherme Pinto Monteiro on 21 October 1876. She published her first work at the age of nineteen, a book of verses in the Parnassian style, called Preludes.^[2][3]

In 1878, Monteiro founded the women's magazine Violeta, whose editors and contributors were essentially female. She contributed to several newspapers, both literary and others, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, such as Escrínio and Eco do Povo in Porto Alegre, and Progresso Literário, Tribuna Literária, and Illustração Pelotense in Pelotas. Not only a poet, she wrote short stories and plays and was also a columnist. She also published texts in A Mensageira in São Paulo, a magazine dedicated to Brazilian women. She became the patron of the Women's Literary Academy of Rio Grande do Sul and published in its magazine, Atenéia. She was also a member of the Sociedade Partenon Literário (Parthenon Literary Society), using the pseudonym "Penserosa".^[2][3]

In 1892, she published a book of sonnets, Oscilantes, described as being simple, descriptive and even naïve and revealing a happy childhood and youth.^[4] In 1898, she published a book of short stories, Alma e Coração (Soul and heart). Other publications were to follow, including Tabernacle, a book of verses, and the play, O Segredo de Marcial (Marcial's secret). With her sister she wrote the plays Coração de Mãe (Mother's heart), which was staged in Porto Alegre, Berilos, staged in Rio Grande, and Mário.^[2][3][4][5]