She was born close to midnight in the Campo de Ourique area of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, according to her mother on 8 December 1900 and according to her father and official documents on the 9th.

As he was presenting a play in Brazil at the time and she was in Lisbon, they married by proxy, and she then went to Rio de Janeiro to join her husband.

[1][2][3][4] Having completed her school studies between 1915 and 1918, majoring in mathematics, Castro began to attend literary salons in 1920, including those given by Veva de Lima.

[5] In 1924, she published a book of poems called Cidade em Flor (City in flower), with a cover illustration by Bernardo Marques.

[7] Accompanying her husband and invited by the Brazilian modernist writer Oswald de Andrade and his wife, she then went to Paris, where the two couples were part of the social circle of people such as the artist Francis Picabia, the fashion designer Paul Poiret, and the composers Arthur Honegger and Eric Satie.

She was also translating foreign plays for her husband's new theatre group, which was performing at Lisbon's Teatro da Rua dos Condes.

[7] Continuing to publish poetry, in 1928 she also brought out her first novel for adults, O Veneno do Sol (The poison of the sun), set in Africa.

In 1930, her play Nova Escola de Maridos (New school for husbands) was staged at Lisbon's Teatro da Trindade.

These parks, aimed at poorer communities in Lisbon, were colourful places that offered teaching of painting, music and ballet (with Águeda Sena as one of the teachers), a permanent nurse and weekly visits from doctors, as well as food and schooling.

In 1940, she wrote the script for the ballet A Lenda das Amendoeiras (The Legend of the Almond Trees), which was performed at the Teatro da Trindade.

In the same year she collaborated with her husband, a supporter and propagandist of the Estado Novo dictatorship, in the presentation of the Portuguese World Exhibition in Lisbon.

In 1944, she translated the Journal of Katherine Mansfield and in 1945 she published the novel, Maria da Lua, for which she became the first woman to win the Ricardo Malheiros Prize, from the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.

This left her fairly poor but, even so, she turned down an offer from the Government to receive a salary for running the National Association of Children's Parks.

Continuing to write poetry and other literature, in 1964, she published a book for children introducing botany, called É A Vida Maravilhosa das Plantas (It's The Wonderful Life of Plants).

[11] In 1920 she won the D.Maria II National Theatre Award, for the play Náufragos In 1940, Castro was made an Officer of Military Order of Saint James of the Sword.