Condolences on the passing of Honorary President Maria Alzira Seixo

The AILC-ICLA is deeply saddened by the news, received from the Portuguese Comparative Literature Association, of the passing of Professor Maria Alzira Seixo on 20 January 2026.

Professor Seixo served as President of AILC-ICLA from 1991 to 1994, and thereafter as Honorary president. 

As our colleagues from the Portuguese Comparative Literature Association (APLC) remind us, "Professor Seixo was one of the founding members of APLC, serving as its President from 1987 to 1992. As President of APLC, she was also one of the founders of the journal Dedalus, which has been and continues to be instrumental in disseminating Comparative Literature in Portugal.
 
Professor Seixo was an attentive and discerning reader of emerging voices in Portuguese literature, publishing early essays on writers who have since become canonical, including José Saramago and António Lobo Antunes.
 
She once remarked, when faced with an indiscreet question, that À la recherche du temps perdu, by Marcel Proust, was the book of her life — simply because it made her read more and read better. In truth, she could well have been speaking then of what she still urges us to do today.
 
Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and colleagues" – and so are those of the AILC-ICLA and the international community of comparatists.