Brazil literary great Nelida Pinon dies at 85

FILE PHOTO: Writer Nelida Pinon of Brazil (L) is applauded by Spanish Crown Prince Felipe after receiving the 2005 Prince of Asturias Letters award during a traditional ceremony at Campoamor theatre in Oviedo in northern Spain October 21, 2005. REUTERS/Felix Ordonez

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Writer and scholar Nelida Pinon, the first woman to preside over the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), died at age 85 in Lisbon, according to the literary club and Brazilian media reports.

The acclaimed author published a vast body of work translated in more than 30 countries.

Pinon won national and international awards and became an elected member of the ABL in 1989. She later chaired the literary club in 1996 and 1997, its website shows.

Pinon was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1937 to a Galician family and as a child chose to be a writer, ABL's website said.

She had a degree in journalism and published novels, short stories and essays, and wrote speeches and memoirs.

(Reporting by Ana Mano; editing by Jonathan Oatis)