Rio, November 4, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The author, Raquel de Queiroz, died early this morning, close to her 93rd birthday, which would have been commemorated on the 17th. Queiroz, the first woman to be inducted into the Brazilian Academy of Letters, where she occupied chair number 5, to which she was elected on August 4, 1977, recently suffered a stroke.

A native of the state of Ceará, Queiroz was a teacher, reporter, novelist, chronicler, and playwright. On her mother's side she was a descendant of the writer, José de Alencar, author of the novel "O Guarani." She began to write early, and at 20, in 1930, she published the novel "O Quinze (The Fifteen)," in which she described the horrors of the drought in the Northeast.

Other works that marked her career were "As Três Marias (The Three Marias)," in 1939, and "Memorial de Maria Moura (Memories of Maria Moura)," her most recent book, in 1992. For many years the author and journalist contributed to newspapers such as the "Diário de Notícias" and "O Jornal" and to the magazine "O Cruzeiro." (DAS)