Josep Elias (Paris, 1941 - Barcelona, 1982) was a poet and fiction writer.

Although he was soon to be labelled as a poet situated outside the limits defined by generational conventions, it has also been said that he belongs to what has been called the "Seventies Literary Generation". Besides writing poetry and fiction, he worked as a professional translator, from English and French into Spanish. In 1973, disillusioned with political and cultural life in Barcelona, he confirmed his stance as an outsider by leaving the city and moving to Cadaqués, a town which he then incorporated as a literary element in his collections of poems –Per a un duc Bach escriví música d'orgue, a Weimar (For a Duke Bach Wrote Organ Music, in Weimar), winner of the 1970 Carles Riba Prize; Ideari a la recerca de la fruita tendra (Ideas for the Quest for Tender Fruit, 1976); and Davant el fat com si no hi fos (Before Fate As If It Wasn't There, 1982)– and in his prose works, the short story collection La dona del capità (The Captain's Wife, 1977) and the long experimental work Descomposicions (Decompositions – winner of the First Documenta Award in 1980).

Josep Elias died in Barcelona on 1 July 1982 after a long illness.



Web page: Andreu Gabriel i Tomàs for AELC.
Translation: Julie Wark.