Born in Mozambique in 1928, Alberto de Lacerda moved to Lisbon at the age of eighteen. He later worked for the BBC in London, lectured at the University of Texas–Austin, spent time traveling and giving readings in Brazil, and taught at Boston University. His travels allowed him to associate with, influence, and create friendships with various internationally acclaimed writers of his day, including Octavio Paz, Manuel Bandeira, Marianne Moore, Luis Borges, Czeslaw Milosz, Louis Zukofsky, Robert Creeley, Elizabeth Bishop, and others. He was a quiet but prominent figure in the world of Portuguese literature and the first Portuguese poet to give a reading and record poems for the archives at the Library of Congress. Before his death in 2007, de Lacerda had published more than ten collections of poetry.