Barreno, Maria Isabel (1939–)

Portuguese writer and feminist. Name variations: The Three Marias. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, July 10, 1939; granted degree in historic and philosophic sciences from Lisbon Arts Faculty; married with children.

Employed in the National Institute of Industrial Research; participated in the writing of A Condicão da Mulher Portuguesa (1968); published 1st novel, De Noite as Arvores São Negras (1968); with Maria Velho da Costa and Maria Teresa Horta, wrote and published Novas Cartas Portuguesas (The New Portuguese Letters, 1972), which led the modern feminist literary movement in Portugal and achieved notoriety because of the government's attempt to suppress the work; arrested on charges of pornography and offenses against public morality, went on trial as one of the "The Three Marias" (1971–74); following the ousting of the Portuguese dictatorship, was declared innocent, with all charges dismissed (1974); published a series of novels and short stories, including Morte da Mãe (1977), Inventário de Ana (1982), Célia e Celina (1985), O Enviado (1991), O Senhor das Ilhas (1994) and Os Outros Legítimos Superiores; also studied the Portuguese media's portrayal of women in A Imagem da Mulher na Imprensa (1976) and sexual discrimination in education in Falso Neutro: Um Estudo sobre a Discriminação no Ensino (1985).

See also The Three Marias: New Portuguese Letters (trans. by Helen R. Lane, 1975); and Women in World History.