[2] She was born in São Tomé e Príncipe, the former Portuguese territory off the coast of West Africa, to João Graça do Espírito Santo and Maria de Jesus Agostinho das Neves.

[2][4] Since 1975, when São Tomé and Príncipe achieved independence from Portugal, she held several high offices in the government, including as Minister of Education and Culture, Minister of Information and Culture, President of the National Assembly, and General Secretary of the National Union of Writers and Artists of São Tomé and Príncipe.

[4] Her poem "The Same Side of the Canoe" (translated by Kathleen Weaver) is included in such anthologies as The Penguin Book of Women Poets (1987) and Daughters of Africa (1992).

[4] In 2006, she wrote a preface to Retalhes do massacre de Batepá, a book by Manuel Teles Neto Da Costa.

She died aged 83 in hospital in Luanda, Angola, on 10 March 2010, when five days of national mourning was declared by the government of São Tomé e Principe.