Profile

Attended the Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon. BA in Literature and History, King’s College, University of London.

PhD from King’s College, University of London.

Emeritus Professor of Portuguese, King’s College London.

Honorary Research Fellow, University of Oxford.

Honorary President of the International Association of Lusitanists.

He was Camoens Professor of Portuguese and Head of the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at King’s College London, as well as Associate Director of the Institute of Romance Studies at the University of London.

He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, the University of São Paulo, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the University of Santiago de Compostela, and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, among others.

Helder Macedo was the founder and editor of the journal Portuguese Studies (winner of the Best New Journal award from the Conference of Editors of Learned Journals, USA) and the founder of Veredas, the journal of the International Association of Lusitanists.

He is the author of over thirty books, including essays, poetry, fiction, and chronicles, as well as hundreds of articles in various languages.

He has received multiple literary awards, including the Casimiro Dantas Prize from the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, as well as prizes from the Portuguese Writers’ Association, the International Association of Literary Critics, the Casa de Mateus Foundation, and the Portuguese PEN Club, along with the Vasco Graça Moura Prize for Cultural Citizenship.

Honours & Decorations:

• Commander of the Order of Saint James of the Sword (1993).
• Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (2018).
• Grand Cross of the Order of Luís de Camões (2024).

He also served as Secretary of State for Culture in the government of Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo.