Lluís Alpera (l'Horta, València, 1938 - 2018), is a poet, critic, organiser of cultural events and founder of the Department of Catalan Philology at the University of Alacant. There is an existential tension throughout his poetry highlighting the difficulties of living in today’s world, which situates his work as a clear example of late twentieth-century Catalan poetry.

He began to write poetry when he was very young when he joined the circle of Valencian realist-tending poets. With the publication of the bilingual collection Anthology of Valencian Realist Poetry in the review Identity Magazine of Harvard University, Alpera sets for himself an aesthetic stance that marks his subsequent trajectory as a poet. Nonetheless, his work has never remained fixed within the parameters of his early realist work but has moved towards a baroque sensualism and, eventually, towards a synthetic poetry that is reflected in his most recent collections.

He has published more than twenty books of poetry, noteworthy amongst which are Dades de la història civil d'un valencià (Data from the Civilian History of a Valencian, 1980), Surant enmig del naufragi final, contemple el voluptuós incendi de totes i cadascuna de les flors del núbil hibiscus (Floating Around the Final Shipwreck, I Contemplate the Voluptuous Fire of Each and Every One of the Nubile Hibiscus Flowers, 1985), Tempesta d'argent (Silver Storm, 1986), Cavalls a l'alba (Horses at Daybreak, 1998) and Els bells papirs d'Alexandria (The Beautiful Papyruses of Alexandria, 2003). He has also published several books of critical writings, for example the three volumes of Sobre poetes valencians i altres escrits (On Valencian Poets and Other Writings, 1990-2004), along with numerous articles in newspapers and scientific and cultural reviews.

He has received several prizes and awards in recognition of his literary activity, for example the Salvat-Papasseit Prize, the Valencian Writers Critics' Prize, the Interuniversity Institute of Valencian Philology Prize, and the Ausiàs March Prize. He also participated in the "Writer of the Month" programme of the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (Institute of Catalan Letters).

He is a member of honor of Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers, AELC).



Web page: Nausica Solà for AELC.
Translation: Julie Wark.
Photographs: Personal files of Lluís Alpera / © Barceló.