JOSEP PIERA (Beniopa, La Safor, 1947)
Josep Piera is a poet, fiction writer, publisher and sponsor of cultural initiatives such as “The Year of Tirant (lo Blanc)”. He has also been Vice-President of the Association of Catalan Language Writers and the Catalan Centre of the PEN Club.
In 1976 he published his first book of poems, Renou: la pluja ascla els estels (Hubbub: The Rain Splinters the Stars) and, two years later, a collection of stories, El somriure de l’herba (The Laugh of the Grass). He collected his poetry in Dictats d’amors (Poesia 1971-1991) [Dictations of Love (Poetry 1971-1991)] in 1991. Later he would publish En el nom de la mar (1999) (In the Name of the Sea), El jardí llunyà (2000) (The Distant Garden) and Cants i encants (2004) (Songs and Enchantments). His first novel was Rondalla del retorn (1977) (Tale of the Return), a genre he would change shortly afterwards for the first-person narrative. His books, somewhere between the intimist and memoir forms, often describe journeys while probing the innermost nature of the human being: El cingle verd (1982) (The Green Cliff), Estiu grec (1985) (Greek Summer), Un bellíssim cadàver barroc (1987) (A Very Beautiful Baroque Corpse), Ací s’acaba tot (1993) (Thus It All Ends), Seduccions de Marràqueix (1996) (Seductions of Marrakech), and A Jerusalem (2005) (In Jerusalem). In 2001 he published Jo sóc aquest que em dic Ausiàs March (I Am He Who is Called Ausiàs March), a literary biography of the great 15th-century poet. His latest book, Puta postguerra (2007) (Damn Postwar) is the continuation of El temps feliç (Happy Times), some of his memoirs published in 2001. He has received many awards, including the Carles Riba Prize for his poetry and the Andròmina and the Josep Pla awards for his prose.
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SELECTED WORKS
POETRY
· El somriure de l’herba
(Proa, 1980) [‘The laugh of the grass’].
· Brutícia
(El Mall, 1981) [‘Dirt’].
· Maremar
(Edicions 62, 1985).
· Dictats d’amor (poesia 1971-1991)
(Edicions 62, 1991) [Dictations of love (Poetry 1971-1991)].
· En el nom de la mar
(Edicions 62 / Empúries, 1999) [‘In the name of the sea’].
· Cants i encants
( Ensiola, 2004) [‘Songs and enchantments’].
FICTION
· El cingle verd
(Destino, 1982) [‘The green cliff’]
· Estiu grec
(Destino, 1985) [‘Greek summer’].
· Un bellíssim cadàver barroc
(Edicions 62, 1987) [‘A very beautiful baroque corpse’].
· Seduccions de Marràqueix
(Edicions 62, 1996) [‘Seductions of Marrakech’].
· El jardí llunyà
(Edicions 62, 2000) [‘The distant garden’].
· A Jerusalem
(Edicions 62, 2005) [‘In Jerusalem’].
ESSAY
· El paradís de les paraules
(Edicions 62, 1995) [‘The paradise of words’].
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LATEST WORKS IN TRANSLATION
DUTCH
· Catalaanse zegswijze [Anthology], tr. Ann Duez & Bob de Nijs. Brugge: Kruispunt, 1990.
ENGLISH
· At Close Quarters [Anthology], tr. D. Sam Abrams. Barcelona: Institute of North American Studies, 1996.
FRENCH
· 48 poètes catalans pour le XXI Siècle [Anthology], tr. François - Michel Durazzo. Québec: Écrits de Forges, 2005.
GALICIAN
· Trece poetas cataláns [Anthology], tr. Xavier Rodríguez Baixeras. A Coruña: Espiral Maior, 1995.
HUNGARIAN
· Ész és mámor. Századi katalán költok [Anthology], tr. Balázs Déri. Budapest: Íbisz, 1997.
ITALIAN
· Un bellissimo cadavere barocco [‘un bellíssim cadàver barroc’], tr. Donatella Siviero. Nàpols: Tullio Pironti Editore, 1990.
PORTUGUESE
· Quinze poetas catalães [Anthology], tr. Egito Gonçalves. Porto: Limiar, 1994.
RUSSIAN
· 40 poslie 39 [Anthology], tr. Elena Zernova. Sant Petersburg: Sankt Petersburgskogo universiteta, 2002.
SPANISH
· Antología, tr. Jaime Siles. València: Edicions Alfons el Magnànim, 1990.
· Antología de la poesía catalana actual, tr. Alberto José Miyara. Buenos Aires: Libros de Tierra Firme, 1999.
· Seducciones de Marraquech. tr. Josep Piera. Barcelona: Península, 2000.
· Los arroces de casa y otras maravillas. Barcelona: Península, 2000.
· Soy aquel que se llama Ausiàs March, tr. José María Micó. Barcelona: El Aleph Editores, 2002.
· He decidido seguir viviendo... [Anthology], tr. José Bru & Jorge Souza. Mèxico: universidad de Guadalajara, 2004.
· Resonancias. Poesía catalana contemporánea, tr. Marta Noguer Ferrer & Carlos Guzmán Moncada. Mexico: UNAM, 2004.
· La sonrisa de la hierba y otros poemas, tr. Marc Granell. Paiporta: Denes, 2008.
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