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Teresa Balté (born 1942, Portugal) studied German, English and Music (piano and organ) in Lisbon, Hamburg and Chicago. She is a writer and translator and teaches translation. Her translations into Portuguese include works by Georg Büchner, Bert Brecht and Erich Fried. She is also a music critic for various Portuguese journals.
Balté's poems derive from her experiences in life, shedding a sober, psychoanalytical light on them. Several of her works have dealt with her life and work together with her deceased husband, the sculptor Hein Semke. She writes love poetry but also poetry with a socially critical undertone. Poems like "Donaueschingen" are a kind of bridge between Germany and Portugal. Her style is sober, original and energetic, with an extraordinary mix of youthfulness and maturity, rounded off with fine humour and light irony.
As well as poetry, Teresa Balté has also published children's books and been involved with painting. Her latest book is the collection of verse "Poesia Quase Toda" (Asa, Porto 2005).