The same source added, that the funeral service will begin on Monday at 14:00, with a mass, and the body of the 81-year-old writer will later be deposited in the artists’ grave, in Cemitério dos Prazeres, in Lisbon.

The Portuguese writer, Jose Jorge Leteria, said that the Portuguese writer Antonio Torrado, author of more than a hundred literary works, especially for children, died on Friday at home as a result of a long-term illness.

Award-winning poet, playwright, and former high school teacher, Antonio Torrado was associated from an early age with pedagogy, literary production for younger, restoring and reinterpreting traditional short stories and promoting reading.

Born in Lisbon in 1939, Antonio Torrado graduated in philosophy in Coimbra and devoted himself to teaching in the 1960s until he was removed for political reasons.

The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, lamented on Friday the death of the writer who reminded her of a “bigger name” and an “inevitable reference” in Portuguese literature.

“The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, expresses his deep regret at the death of writer Antonio Torrado (1939-2021), poet, fictionalist, playwright and major name in Portuguese children’s literature,” reads a note issued by the Strategy, Planning and Cultural Assessment.

The government official also classified the author as a “Master of the Portuguese Language,” highlighting his “unique” sense of humor and empathy.

For Graça Fonseca, António Torrado is “an inescapable reference in Portuguese literature of the past decades”, with a “brilliant work” that testifies to the “transformative value of imagination and imagination” and memory, and also constitutes a repository of Portuguese literary tradition.

“Through his texts, the past, present and future of Portuguese literature is permanently connected, in a work that taught many to read, and moreover, to dream and believe in the magical reality of worlds created from pages and ink,” he added, offering condolences to the author’s family and friends.