Heloisa Teixeira, a leading feminist and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, dies at age 85.
Professor and writer, she challenged norms for six decades, influencing generations with her ideas, books, activism, and critical thinking.
Cristina Índio do Brasil - Reporter for Agência Brasil
The writer and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), Heloisa Teixeira, died this Friday (28), in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 85, due to complications from pneumonia and acute respiratory failure. The writer was hospitalized at Casa de Saúde São Vicente, in Gávea, south of Rio. The wake will be held this Saturday (29), at the ABL headquarters, in downtown Rio de Janeiro, the academy informed.
In a post on Instagram, the academy expressed its regret at having to report the writer's death and commented on the importance of her presence among the members of the ABL (Brazilian Academy of Letters).
"Our beloved Helô was immense—and leaves an undeniable legacy of critical thinking, generosity, and commitment to a more just, pluralistic, and inclusive culture. Elected in 2023 to chair 30 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, succeeding writer Nélida Piñon, Heloisa brought to the ABL not only her brilliant intellectual sagacity but also a spirit of welcome and fraternity that deeply impacted everyone she met.
Born in Ribeirão Preto, in the interior of São Paulo, Heloisa moved with her family to Rio de Janeiro at the age of 4. The daughter of a doctor, a professor, and a homemaker, Heloisa had three children: the filmmakers Lula, André, and Pedro.
Identity
The writer was sworn in on July 28, 2023, with a new identity. Eleven days before the ceremony, she had stopped using the surname of her first husband, the lawyer and gallery owner Luiz Buarque de Hollanda. At 83 years old, she adopted her mother's surname, Teixeira. The significance of the gesture for her resulted in a tattoo on her back with her full name.
At the time, the president of the ABL, Merval Pereira, highlighted that when the academic was elected she signed her name as Heloisa Buarque de Hollanda, but on the diploma it was already her birth name.
Feminism
Recognized as one of the leading voices of Brazilian feminism, she highlighted, during her inauguration speech, the gender disparity within the Brazilian Academy of Letters itself.
"We are still very few in this house: only ten women have been elected academicians against a total of 339 men, which reflects the inequality between the election of men and women in the ABL." The academy was inaugurated on July 20, 1897.
With a degree in classics from the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio), a master's and doctorate in Brazilian literature from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and a postdoctoral degree in cultural sociology from Columbia University in New York, she was director of the Advanced Program in Contemporary Culture at the Faculty of Letters at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. There, she coordinated the Social Technologies Laboratory of the University of the Slums project and the M Forum, an open space for debate on women's issues in universities.
Heloisa Teixeira was elected with 34 of the 37 votes and made a point of affirming her alignment with the ABL renewal project.
"This current opening project fascinates me. And that's not even the beginning. It has to include women, Black people, Indigenous people. Because they're excellent too. This is Brazil, democracy. I'm very happy to be at this point in academia," he said at his inauguration.
