Ângela Lago

On 17 December 1945,[1] Ângela Maria Cardoso Lago was born in Belo Horizonte,[2] which is the capital of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.[1][3] She, sometimes referred to Angela-Lago with a hyphen,[4] was raised in Belo Horizone,[2] and began drawing when she was three years old.[5] Lago studied at the Sion, Santa Marcelina and Sacré-Coeur de Jesus schools until 1963.[2] Five years later, she graduated from the School of Social Service of the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais,[2] and educated at the school in 1969.[6] After obtaining a sponsorship, Lago worked for three months doing child psycho pedagogy in Denver, Colorado, United States. She went on to work in Venezuela for three years between 1970 and 1973 as a teacher at Ciudad Guayana's School of Social Service.[2] Lago went on to relocate to Edinburgh, Scotland, and enrolled on a graphic arts course.[4]

Upon returning to Brazil, Lago focused on the field of children's literature.[7] She published her first two books in 1980 when she was aged 35,[1][6] which were called Fio do Riso and Sangue de Barata.[1][5] Lago published Uni, Duni e Tê in 1982 and Chiquita Bacana e Outras Pequetitas four years later. She shut down her visual advertising studio in 1985, having operated it for a decade, but she went on to incorporate computer programmes into her process of creation by the late 1980s.[2] In 1992, Lago authored the illustrated version of the biblical poem O Cântico dos Cânticos. That same year, she wrote De Morte, a folklore retelling of the story of an elderly male who has three possible requests prior to his death. Lago published Cenas de Rua in 1994, an illustrated book about a child's daily life selling at a lighthouse of a large city.[4]

In 1995, she authored Festa no Céu: Um Conto do Nosso Folclore,[1] and went on to write Um ano novo danado de bom two years later.[5] Lago published ABC doido in 1999,[2][5] then Indo Não Sei Onde Buscar Não Sei O Quê in 2000;[4] Sete histórias para sacudir o esqueleto in 2002; Muito capeta in 2004;[5] A Casa da Onça e do Bode in 2005;[1] João Felizardo, o Rei dos Negócios in 2006;[2] Um Livro de Horas in 2008;[1] A visita dos 10 monstrinhos and Marginal À Esquerda in each of 2009;[1][4] ABC Doido in 2010;[4] O caixão rastejante e outras assombrações de família in 2015;[5] and O Caderno do Jardineiro in 2016.[1]

Lago earned the Best Illustrated Book Award which is issued by the Fundación Nacional del Libros Infantil y Juvenil de Brasil in both 1984 and 1986.[8] She won the Slovakian 1995 Biennial of Illustration Bratislava for her book Festa no Céu: Um Conto do Nosso Folclor and again in 2007 for Joao Felizardo o rei dos negocios.[1][9] Lago was also named a recipient of the Jabuti Prize for Literature in each of 1993,[10] 1994,[11] 1995,[12] 1999,[13] 2000,[14] 2001,[15] and 2005.[16]

She did not have any children.[3] Early in the morning of 22 October 2017, Lago died of the consequences of a pulmonary embolism after falling ill the night before at her home in Belo Horizonte.[6][17] A wake was held in her honour at Ceremonial Santa Casa in Santa Efigênia de Minas during that same day,[6][17] and was subsequently cremated at the Belo Vale Cemetery in Santa Luzia.[1]

The correspondent for Istoé described Lago as being "seen as one of the most important authors of children's literature in Brazil."[6] Bia Reis and Cristiane Rogerio of O Estado de S. Paulo wrote of Lago: "Angela made us think about the encounter of children's literature with the book object based on the purest desire to experiment."[4] The month of August was dedicated to her by SESC São Caetano which held three meetings about her work in 2018.[18]

• Media related to Ângela Lago at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website (Archived)