Elsie Lessa

Elsie Lessa (1912-May 2000) was a Brazilian journalist and writer of American descent.

She entered the newspaper "O Globo" as a reporter in 1946. From 1952 until her death in May 2000, she wrote continuously for the paper. No other writer had a permanent space for so long in that paper.

She was considered one of the two most beautiful women of her day in Rio de Janeiro (the other being Adalgisa Nery). The writer Rubem Braga told of how he followed her for a long time through the streets of downtown São Paulo, just to enjoy her beauty and grace.

The writer Ruy Castro, in his book "Ela é Carioca" said of her: "Elsie has to be placed beside the greatest masters of a genre in the language, like Rubem Braga, Paulo Mendes Campos and Fernando Sabino".

She was a granddaughter of the writer and grammarian Julio Cézar Ribeiro Vaugham, who was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and author of the flag of the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

She was married to the writer Orígenes Lessa (also a member of the Academy), with whom she had a son, the writer and journalist Ivan Lessa. She later married for a second time, with the journalist and writer Ivan Pedro de Martins. She is the grandmother of the writer Juliana Foster and aunt and godmother of the writer and translator Sergio Pinheiro Lopes.

Books

* "Pelos caminhos do mundo" (1950). Rio de Janeiro: A Noite.
* "A dama da noite: crońicas" (1963). Rio de Janeiro: Livraria J. Olympio.
* "Crônicas de amor e desamor" (1973). Rio de Janeiro: F. Alves.
* "Ponte Rio-Londres" (1984). Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record.
* "Formoso tejo meu: (Crónicas)" (1998). Lisbon: Editora Pergaminho. ISBN 9727111734
* "Canta que avida é un dia. Crônicas reunidas." (1998). Rio de Janeiro: Razao Cultural. ISBN 8586280259