Portuguese novelist and poet who wrote realistic works about his homeland, the agricultural province of Alentejo.

A collegiate boxing champion, da Fonseca came of age during the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. His literary career began with the publication of the poem “Rosa dos ventos” (“Rose of the Winds”) in 1940. His best-known novel is Cerromaior (1943; “Biggest Hill”), which was translated into several languages and filmed by director Luis Rocha in the 1970s. Among his other books are O fogo e as cinzas (1952; “The Fire and the Ashes”), Seara de vento (1958; “Harvest of Wind”), Um anjo no trapézio (1968; “An Angel on the Trapeze”), Tempo de solidão (1969; “Time of Solitude”), and Crónicas algarvias (1986; “Constant Gibberish”), as well as the verse collections Poemas completos (1963) and Obra poética (1984).