María Xesús Pato Díaz (born in Ourense, Galicia, on 29 August 1955), most commonly known as Chus Pato, is a Galician writer[1] and political activist.
Chus Pato is an important figure in Galician culture: she belongs to literary groups and cultural associations, such as PEN Club and Redes Escarlata. She also participates directly in politics and is part of Frente Popular Galega, a communist and pro-independence political party.
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Chus Pato’s works go beyond the traditional concept of poetry since her writings are signs of postmodern transgression of literary genres. She uses different text types —biographies, essays, excerpts from theater plays, interviews, radio programs—, which allows her to display a large variety of voices that includes, as well as hers, those of many real or fictitious characters.
Her works are a clear mirror of the literary commitment to ideological claims. The Galician nationalism, the Marxist vision of the reality and the feminist theory are some themes she deals with more often. She also thinks about the language as if it were a system of symbolic creation in modern society.
The style of her compositions is characterized by syncopated syntax and references to Greco-Latin mythology so that she uses the language as a metaphor of the immediate reality.
Chus Pato collaborates with many literary publications, such as Festa da palabra silenciada, Luzes da Galiza, A Trabe de Ouro, etc. and she has written books (Palabra de muller, Poesía dos aléns) in collaboration with other authors.
Some of her poems are also included in the anthologies Poésie en Galice aujourd’hui; Rías de tinta; Literatura de mujeres en francés, gallego e italiano; Poetry is the world’s great miracle...