Luísa Fortes da Cunha

Luísa Fortes da Cunha (Vila Franca de Xira, November 13 1959) is a Portuguese writer.

She graduated in Physical Education from Lisbon Highter Institute of Physical Education in 1987, and underwent training in Strasbourg in 1990 with a Council of Europe scholarship. She has a Masters degree in Sports Training Management and a postgraduate qualification in Special Education. She has written many academic works in her specialist area and articles on safety in children's sport, but her first book for children's and young people was Teodora e o Segredo da Esfinge (Theodora and the Secret of the Sphinx), which was so popular with young readers that a second edition had to be produced only three months after the first publication.The books combines Celtic, Portuguese, Scandinavian and German tradition with magic, enchantment and humour.

Who is Theodora (Teodora)?

According to a folk tradition, the seventh daughter in any family turns into a fairy on her twelfth birthday. This is the story of Theodora, who will have lots of adventures in a world peopled with gnomes, elves and trolls in parallel with the normal life of a girl of her age.Against the wishes of her adoptive parents and in the company of her friends Alex and Gil, Theodora embarks on fantastic adventures in a world parallel to our own. Though it may seem strange, entranceways to this other world are hidden in the landscape of the Azores, unspoiled, resplendently green Portuguese islands in the mid-Atlantic. In these books, fantasy is very real.Fairies,gnomes, and elves – and their pots of gold at the ends of rainbows – live right beside us, across an invisible curtain. Children are born knowing of this astonishing other world but begin to lose their awareness of it as they grow up.Every hillside on the island of St. Michael might hide a magic puddle of water known as a Gallitrap – a secret passageway into this other world.Every corner of the island’s Fire Lagoon and every hidden grove of trees might also contain one. And once our small heroine begins to go through these portals it is no longer possible for her to return to the humdrum life she has led up until then. Theodora must fight to live out the destiny that has been assigned her since long ago, since long before she was born: to be a fairy and – using her ingenuity and intelligence – find the keys to all the great mysteries. These fantastic worlds of our imagination are refuges for many children, of course – better places to live than the real world. And the underlying message of the Theodora books is that the imagination is a tool which all of us ought to use. Additionally, in a magical world where everything is new to Theodora, there are many unforeseen obstacles and difficulties to overcome. There is adventure. As in life, she must learn to adapt to this world, to discover who is good and who is bad, to find the best pathway forward… Our daily lives have come to ever more resemble that of the Beech’s, the adoptive family with whom Theodora has been forced to live; and ever less like the world of Saramago the Wizard, Robin the Gnome and Urgania the Fairy Godmother. But in all of us we can still hear the voice of Viviana, the midwife who assisted at Theodora’s birth and who keeps one foot in this world and another in the world of fantasy. Much of the charm of Theodora’s story lies in this invitation to visit an inner world, a land grounded in our collective unconscious, a world of fantasy that supports our own world from below. But don’t be fooled into believing that this journey is an easy one. Theodora will have to confront Pooka, a fairy from a rival clan, and she will have to regain the magic ring that she’d received from her mother on the day she was born. She will face many tests and her troubles will intensify; her enemies will appear invincible. But it is her journey that enables her to grow up, to decipher the riddle of the sphinx, and change her life forever.

Books

*2002: Theodora and the Secret of Sphinx (Teodora e o Segredo da Esfinge)
*2002: Theodora and the Secret Potion (Teodora e a Poção Secreta)
*2003: Theodora and the Three Magic Jars (Teodora e os Três Potes Mágicos)
*2003: Theodora and the Book of Spells (Teodora e o Livro dos Feitiços)
*2004: Theodora and the Sacred Cauldron (Teodora e o Caldeirão Sagrado)
*2004: Theodora and the Mysterious Statues (Teodora e as Estátuas Misteriosas)
*2005: Theodora and the Invisible Island (Teodora e a Ilha Invisível)
*2006: Theodora and the Magic Clock (Teodora e o Relógio Mágico)
*2007: Theodora and the Legendary Rings (Teodora e os Anéis Lendários)
*2007: Theodora and the Mystery of the Volcano (Teodora e o Mistério do Vulcão)

External links

* [http://www.teodora-mysteryofvolcano.blogspot.com/ Blog Teodora and the Mystery of the Volcano]
* [http://www.teodora-monstrosefeiticos.blogspot.com/ Blog Monsters and Spells]
* [http://www.luisafortescunha.blogspot.com/ Blog Luisa Fortes da Cunha]
* [http://www.teodora-luisafortescunha.blogspot.com Blog Theodora/Teodora]
* [http://www.editpresenca.pt/autores_resultado_detalhe.asp?letra=C&autor=1941 Biography]