{{short description|Angolan writer and poet}} {{Infobox writer | name = Manuel Rui | image = Lipsia e manuel rui monteiro.jpg | landscape = | alt = | caption = Rui with singer Lípsia | pseudonym = | birth_name = Manuel Rui Alves Monteiro | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|11|04}} | birth_place = Nova Lisboa, Angola | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = | language = Portuguese | education = University of Coimbra | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notable_works = "Angola Avante!", ''Quem Me Dera Ser Onda'' | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | awards = | years_active = | module = {{infobox officeholder |embed=yes |office=Angola Representative at the Organization of African Unity |office2=Angola Representative at the United Nations |office3=MPLA Minister of Information |term_start3=1974 |term_end3=? }} | website = | portaldisp = }} '''Manuel Rui Alves Monteiro''' (born 4 November 1941)<ref>[http://www.pluraleditores.co.ao/PLE04_ing.asp?area=3&ID=06 "Manuel Rui"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023020133/http://www.pluraleditores.co.ao/PLE04_ing.asp?area=3&ID=06 |date=2014-10-23 }}, Plural Editores.</ref> is an Angolan writer of poetry, novels, theater plays, and short stories. He has been described as "the chronicler par excellence of postindependence Angola" through fiction that offers "subtle, complex, pointed, and oftentimes humorous portrayals of Angola since the early years of the MPLA euphoria, in which he played a political role."<ref name=Arenas>Fernando Arenas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eThbx7A_mEEC&q=%22Manuel+Rui%22&pg=PA173 "Angolan Literature"], ''Lusophone Africa: Beyond Independence'', University of Minnesota Press, 2011, p. 173.</ref>

==Life and career== Manuel Rui was born in 1941 in Huambo (then Nova Lisboa), capital of Angola. He received his primary and secondary education in Huambo. He studied at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, and received a law degree there in 1969. As a student, Rui participated in literary and political events and was jailed for two months in Portugal. He practiced law in Coimbra during the nationalist struggle for independence in Angola. He was on the editorial board of ''Vértice'', the journal of the Center of Literary Studies in Coimbra, where he published his first prose fiction works in the early 1970s. In addition, he was part of the board of Editora Centelha and worked for the Centro de Estudos Literários da Associação Académica de Coimbra.<ref name="union">{{cite web|title=Manuel Rui Alves Monteiro|url=http://www.ueangola.com/index.php/bio-quem/item/822-manuel-rui-alves-monteiro.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130075300/http://www.ueangola.com/index.php/bio-quem/item/822-manuel-rui-alves-monteiro.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 30, 2010|website=Angolan Writers Union|accessdate=6 November 2016}}</ref>

In the aftermath of the Portuguese military coup on April 25, 1974, Rui returned to Angola to serve as the MPLA Minister of Information in the transitional government established by the Alvor Agreement.<ref>Phillis Reisman Butler, "Manuel Rui's ''Sim Camarada!'': Interpolation and the Transformation of Narrative Discourse", ''Callaloo'' 14:2 (Spring 1991), p. 307.</ref> He then served as Angola's first representative to the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations, and as rector of the University of Nova Lisboa.<ref>[http://vertentes.realbb.net/t1080-quem-me-dera-ser-onda-manuel-rui-alves-monteiro “Quem me dera ser onda” - Manuel Rui Alves Monteiro] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103052253/http://vertentes.realbb.net/t1080-quem-me-dera-ser-onda-manuel-rui-alves-monteiro |date=2018-11-03 }}. Tati. Vertentes Deslizando nas Vertentes da Língua Portuguesa. 9 june 2009.</ref> He also directed the MPLA's Department of Revolutionary Orientation and Department of Foreign Affairs. He wrote the lyrics of Angola's first national anthem, "Angola Avante!", the Angolan version of "The Internationale".<ref>[http://146.230.128.60/index.php/tow-past-participants/37-tow-2005/294-manuel-rui-monteiro-angola "Manuel Rui Monteiro (Angola)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150119020129/http://146.230.128.60/index.php/tow-past-participants/37-tow-2005/294-manuel-rui-monteiro-angola |date=2015-01-19 }}, Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal.</ref><ref name=Arenas />

Rui's 1982 book ''Quem Me Dera Ser Onda'' has been described as "a classic of Angolan (and Lusophone African) literature".<ref>Arenas (2011), p. 175.</ref> The work satirically addressed the social problems of the time and has been translated into several languages. He frequently wrote for Angolan newspapers and magazines and has published some children's books.<ref name="union"/> Rui has taught at the University of Huambo and is one of the leading Angolan novelists.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biografia de Manuel Rui Monteiro|url=http://www.lusofoniapoetica.com/artigos/angola/manuel-rui-monteiro/biografia-manuel-rui-monteiro.html|website=Lusophonia Poetica|accessdate=6 November 2016|archive-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328104524/http://www.lusofoniapoetica.com/artigos/angola/manuel-rui-monteiro/biografia-manuel-rui-monteiro.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Selected works== === Theater plays=== *''O Espantalho'' (The Scarecrow, 1973) *''Meninos de Huambo'' (Children of Huambo, 1985)

===Poetry=== *''A Onda'' (The Wave, 1973) *''Cinco Vezes Cinco'' (Five Times Five, 1986)

===Prose=== *''Regresso Adiado'' (Delayed Return; short stories, 1973) *''Sim, Camarada!'' (Yes, Comrade!; short stories, 1977) *''Quem Me Dera Ser Onda'' (I Wish I Were a Wave; novella, 1982) *''A Crónica de um Mujimbo'' (The Chronicle of a Rumor; novel, 1989) *''O Manequim e o Piano'' (The Mannequin and the Piano; novel, 2005) *''Quitandeiras & aviões'' (short stories, 2013)<ref>[http://allafrica.com/stories/201304180932.html "Angola: Writer Manuel Rui Monteiro Releases Latest Book"], AllAfrica, 18 April 2013.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rui, Manuel}} Category:21st-century Angolan writers Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:People from Huambo Category:National anthem writers Category:Angolan children's writers