Matilde Z Oliveira was born in Lisbon. She studied Liberal Arts at the University of Lisbon, specializing in Literature, Philosophy, and African Studies. Later, she attended the Université Libre de Bruxelles, completing a Master’s in Cooperation and Development Studies with the dissertation Un avenir «Leve Leve»: Non-formal/professional education as a means of integration and dignity for youth in rural communities of São Tomé and Príncipe.
She has worked in the field of human rights and international cooperation in various contexts, including Mozambique, São Tomé, and the Calais refugee camp. Author of the books Khoshukuro and White Road, and regular contributor to Meer magazine, she is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute for Comparative Literature, focusing on the relationships between memory, post-memory, and landscape in contemporary French and Francophone literature. She lives in Lisbon, where she still works on various European Union projects, and continues to believe that writing is a shield that protects us from life, but also a way to describe and preserve the beauty of what moves us: the fragile balance between human beings and nature.