Joseph Furtado (Furtadovaddo, 7 April 1872-Bombay 1 January 1947) was an early South Asian poet and novelist who wrote in the English language.
[1] Born in Goa, then a Portuguese colony on the west coast of British-ruled India,[2] his writings are difficult to access today, and many anthologies overlook his contribution.
[2] He was the son of Vicente Cesar and Maria Conceicao de Rocha, Furtado was born in 1872 at Furtadovaddo, Pilerne, Bardez, in Goa.
[2] A Catholic, he began his education in Goa (then part of Portugal), but later attended boarding and arts schools in India.
[4] Furtado mostly wrote in English, though his 1927 critical study of the work of Mariano Gracias, Floriano Barreto, Nascimento Mendonca and Paulino Dias also included, under the title 'Primeiros versos', nine poems which he had written in Portuguese.