Alfred Lewis literary papers

Alfred Lewis’s literary accomplishments include nine novels, six plays, around two hundred poems, and forty-three short stories, that we know of. One novel was published during his lifetime. Home is an Island, published by Random House in 1951, tells the tale of a young man in the Azores about to immigrate to America. It became a bestseller and was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review, Chicago Sunday Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. The sequel to Home is an Island, Sixty Acres and a Barn, was published posthumously in 2005 by the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Lewis’s many poems, written in English and Portuguese, were published in journals and newspapers. An important compilation of his poems entitled Aguarelas florentinas e outras poesias (Angra do Heroismo), was published in the Azores in 1986. To Lewis’s credit, his short stories, some of which were published, were twice referenced in Best American Short Stories in 1949 and 1950. All through his life, Lewis wrote articles, short stories and poems for the Portuguese-American press, - O Liberdade, O Lavrador Portuges, and O Jornal de Noticias - and a column entitled "The Far Corner," for local papers.

Born in 1902 on the island of Flores, Alfred Lewis emigrated from the Azores to the United States in 1922; he first arrived in Providence, Rhode Island and then moved on to California, where he lived for the rest of his life. He married Rose Cecelia Rimola in 1930; they had one daughter, Suzanne. At age 12 Lewis experienced an attack of poliomyelitis, to which he attributed his lifelong passion for sitting and reading, and ultimately writing, as opposed to physical pursuits.

In California, Lewis worked diverse jobs at different times to earn a living - he became a typesetter, clerked in a dry goods store, and worked as a wireless operator. Lewis also worked in real estate and insurance and did translations. He taught himself to write in English, studied law, and served as a city judge from 1938 to 1947 in Los Banos, California. He was somewhat of a local celebrity in Los Banos, where he lived. He later considered his most important contribution to be a counselor of sorts to Portuguese immigrants in the San Joaquin Valley. He helped them write letters, read documents, and navigate banks and other institutions, all for no remuneration.

He died in Los Banos in 1977.