Roundtable on Pessoa: Bartholomew Ryan & Richard Zenith

Join us for the roundtable on one of the greatest Portuguese poets - Fernando Pessoa!

Event will be hosted in English

At this roundtable we will discuss Pessoa’s revolutionary concepts of identity and self-multiplicity. The evening will start with a talk with a writer and philosopher Bartholomew Ryan and Richard Zenith, translator and literary critic moderated by Melaina Barnes, writer and editor. We invite you to join our lively discussion, ask questions and debate!

What to expect from this event?

The discussion will focus primarily on Fernando Pessoa (2024), a book by Bartholomew Ryan and Richard Zenith's Pessoa. We encourage you to take part in the discussion, ask questions and make this roundtable what it’s really about - connecting over debate on Pessoa’s legacy.

Who is this event for?

Curious readers, poetry enthusiasts, philosophers, researchers and thinkers! Everybody is welcome to join, either to discuss or to learn something interesting about one of the most inspiring Portuguese writers - Fernando Pessoa.

About our speakers:

Bartholomew Ryan is a philosopher, musician and researcher based at IFILNOVA, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal. His books include Kierkegaard’s Indirect Politics: Interludes with Lukács, Schmitt, Benjamin and Adorno (2014) and the co-edited Fernando Pessoa and Philosophy: Countless Lives Inhabit Us (2021). During the roundtable, he will present his newest book Fernando Pessoa (2024). A compelling, timely exploration of Fernando Pessoa’s profound, innovative ideas.

As a young man, Fernando Pessoa wrote “be plural like the universe.” Staying true to this, he went on to invent more than one hundred fictional alter-egos, which he called heteronyms. This biography, probing Pessoa’s experience and imagination of reality, navigates the poet’s early days in Lisbon and South Africa, reveals a philosopher-poet and pioneer of Portuguese modernism, and delves into the birth of Pessoa’s heteronymic universe.

Bartholomew Ryan traverses Pessoa’s writings on evolving radical politics and his messianic dream of an empire of poets, his ventures into esoteric realms and his expertise in astrology. The book unravels Pessoa’s real and imaginary relationships, and explores his unfinished prose masterpiece, The Book of Disquiet. This is a compelling, timely exploration of Pessoa’s profound and innovative ideas, including his revolutionary concepts of identity and self-multiplicity.

Richard Zenith is an acclaimed translator and literary critic. His translations include Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet and Fernando Pessoa and Co.: Selected Poems, which won the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. The recipient of Portugal's Pessoa Prize, Zenith lives in Lisbon.

Richard Zenith's Pessoa at last allows us to understand this extraordinary figure. Some eighty-five years after his premature death in Lisbon, where he left over 25,000 manuscript sheets in a wooden trunk, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) can now be celebrated as one of the great modern poets. Setting the story of his life against the nationalistic currents of European history, Zenith charts the heights of Pessoa's explosive imagination and literary genius.

Much of Pessoa's charm and strangeness came from his writing under a variety of names that he used to write in wildly varied styles with different imagined personalities. Zenith traces the back stories of virtually all of these invented others, called 'heteronyms', demonstrating how they were projections, spin-offs or metamorphoses of Pessoa himself. Zenith's monumental work confirms the power of Pessoa's words to speak prophetically to the disconnectedness of modern life.

Tickets for this event

The event is free to attend, but registration is obligatory to enter. Space is limited, grab your tickets quickly!

Please be on time, the door will close at 7:15pm!

The Venue

Good Company Books is an independent English Bookstore in Lisbon. Born from our love of global literature and our Portuguese heritage, we are crafting a space for people of all backgrounds to gather and enjoy the best books, events, coffee, and wine. Find out more on our Instagram.

How To Find Us

By Metro: We're situated a 5-minute walk from the Campo Pequeno metro (Yellow line) and a 10-minute walk from the Alameda metro (Green & Red lines).

By Bus: There are many convenient bus options 2 blocks away from us on Avenida República, with the closest stop to our store being Campo Pequeno-Av. Republica.

By Bike: If you're using the Gira public bicycles, there is a docking station right across the street (#431 - Rua do Arco Cego / Av. Magalhães Lima).

By Car: There is a paid parking lot across the street, between Rua Arco do Cego and Rua Dona Filipa de Vilhena. Street parking is also available around the neighborhood.