“Literary Conversations on Asia”, with Raquel Ochoa

Literary discussions about journeys to Asia, featuring renowned writers, emerge as spaces for cultural exchange, reflection and discovery. In these exchanges, the authors explore not only the places they have visited, but also the encounters, social contrasts and inner transformations brought about by travel. By sharing their experiences, the authors reflect on the limits of language, the challenges of cultural translation and the ethical responsibility of representing different realities.

These conversations highlight the role of the traveller-writer as a cultural mediator, who interprets the ‘other’ and confronts their own self, where travel becomes an intellectual and emotional journey that broadens horizons – for both the writer and the reader.

Biographical note

Winner of the Agustina Bessa-Luís Debut Prize for her novel A Casa-Comboio (The Train-House), the saga of a family originally from Damão in the largely overlooked Portuguese India, published in 2010 and since translated into Italian. She was a finalist for the Leya Prize in 2023 with her recent novel Coração-Castelo, based on a true story set in Japan in 1637.

Raquel Ochoa is the author of historical novels: Mar Humano and As Noivas do Sultão; biographies: Bana – Uma Vida a Cantar Cabo Verde, A Infanta Rebelde and Manuel Vicente – A Desmontagem do Desconhecido; and travel chronicles: The Wind of Others and No End in Sight – The Journey, always writing with a particular focus on the encounter between cultures throughout history.

Born in Lisbon, she graduated with a degree in Law, but soon turned her attention to travel, writing about her experiences and leading groups in various countries to which she returns time and again, such as India, Cape Verde, the Philippines and Japan.
She organises and leads mini-tours around the world in collaboration with the travel agency Pinto Lopes Viagens.