Angolan poet, dramatist, and novelist whose writing is rooted in the struggle for liberation of Angola from Portuguese colonialism.

Lima represented Angola in 1956 at the first International Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris and again at the Congress of Afro-Asian Writers in Cairo in 1962. He was a member of the Organizing Committee of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola and a military leader of the Popular Army for the Liberation of Angola. These experiences provided nourishment for his writing. He later moved to Montreal, where he taught French.

Lima's first novel, As Sementes da Liberdade (1965; “The Seeds of Liberty”), was published in Rio de Janeiro, and his second, As Lagrimas e o Vento (1975; “Tears and Wind”), in Lisbon. The latter work is a fictional account of the war of liberation that resulted in independence. Lima also published a volume of poems, Kissange (1961), and a play, A Pele do Diabo (1977; “The Skin of the Devil”), as well as a political fable, Os anões e os mendigos (1984; “Dwarfs and Beggars”).