If we’re lucky enough to live long enough, old age will eventually catch up with us. The accumulation of years could very well make us miss a step, but that doesn’t have to stand in the way of great accomplishments. Take for example the woman who spent her working career as an obscure confectioner, only to become a literary icon in her nineties.
A Confectioner and Poetess
“Age is nothing but a number” is usually more feel good aspirational than strictly true. Of course age has an impact on us, and old age eventually slows people. However, that is not an insurmountable barrier that should keep one from reaching the heights of success. There are few better examples of that than poetess, writer, and giant of Brazilian literature Cora Coralina (1889 – 1995). Born Ana Lins dos Guimares Peixoto Bretas but better known by her pen name, she was in her seventies when she published her first book.
Girls seldom received much of an education in nineteenth and early twentieth century Brazil, and Cora was no exception. Born in Goias in Brazil’s interior, the daughter of an appellate judge, she dropped out of school after third grade. She moved to Sao Paulo when she was twenty one, and there she spent her working life as a small bakery confectioner to support her six children after her husband passed away. Cora had always liked poetry from early on, and began to pen verse in her teens. Little did she know that her poems would someday make her famous.
A Rise to Fame in Old Age
Cora Coralina penned verse whenever she could, and over the years, accumulated a significant body of poems. However, relatively few knew of her or her poetry. She finally got around to sharing her verse with the world when she was already past the age of retirement for most people. In 1965, when she was seventy five years old, Coralina published her first book, a collection of her poems. She published her second book in 1976, when she was eighty six.
Publication did not ensure publicity, however, and the works of Coralina languished in relative obscurity for years. Then in 1980, Carlos Drumond de Andrade, a giant of Latin American literature, discovered and praised her poetry. That brought Coralina to the public’s attention, and gained her widespread popularity. She thus finally achieved fame and fortune when she was in her nineties. Coralina’s poems and writings, especially those on women’s issues, rural poverty, and Afro-Brazilian mythology, made her one of Brazilian literature’s most relevant voices.
She was voted the “Literary Personality of the Year” in 1984 by Brazil’s Union of Writers, when she was ninety four years old. She passed away the following year, but her writings remained popular after her death. All her books are regularly reprinted, and many have already seen more than ten editions. As of 2025, Cora Coralina continues to be viewed as an icon and one of the most important figures of Brazilian literature. Her house became a museum, and numerous schools, libraries, and cultural centers throughout Brazil are named in her honor.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Brazilian Poetry – Cora Coralina: Biography and Poems
Ebiografia – Cora Coralina [Portuguese]
History Halls – The Crimean War’s Other Nurse: Mary Seacole
