Miquel Ferrà i Martorell (Sóller, Mallorca, 1940) is a teacher, novelist and fiction writer.

He started to write from an early age, his work appearing in several Mallorcan publications. He now combines his work as a teacher with intense activity as an author with a large number of titles, mostly novels and stories, for children, young people and adults. Notable among his novels are La universitat (The University, 1972); Memòries secretes de Cristòfor Colom (The Secret Memoirs of Christopher Columbus, 1983); No passaran! (They Shall Not Pass! 1984); El misteri del Cant Z-506 (The Mystery of Canto Z-506, 1985, Ramon Llull Prize); La guerra secreta de Ramon Mercader (The Secret War of Ramon Mercader, 1987); Crònica de Guinea (Chronicle of Guinea, 1988, City of Palma-Llorenç Villalonga Prize); Allah Akbar (el morisc) (Allah Akbar (The Moor), 1990, City of Alzira Prize); Clar lliri d'aigua (Clear Water Lily, 1993); El soldat desconegut (The Unknown Soldier, 1993); El dia que Himmler va anar als toros (The Day Himmler Went to a Bull Fight, 2004); and Abdallah Karim, el predicador (Abdallah Karim, the Preacher, 2005, City of Palma-Llorenç Villalonga Prize); and others. His collections of short stories include the books Contes i viatges (Stories and Journeys, 1998); Les llegendes del Che (The Legends of Che, 1998); Faula del Mare Nostrum (Fable from Mare Nostrum, 2004); and Llegendes i tradicions de les Balears (Legends and Traditions of the Balearic Islands, 2009).

He has also published essays, books on gastronomy and travel books, including Sóller, imatges d'ahir (Sóller: Images from Yesterday, 1990); Els enigmes de la nostra història (The Enigmas of Our History, 1992); Sollerics arreu del món (Sóller People around the World, 1992); L'ahir i l'avui de la cuina mallorquina (The Yesterday and Today of Mallorcan Cookery, 1992); La cuina de la Revolució Francesa i les Illes Balears (The Cooking of the French Revolution and the Balearic Islands, 2000); Cervantes, el Quixot i Mallorca (Cervantes, Quixote and Mallorca, 2005); and Jovellanos, Bellver i Mallorca (Jovellanos, Bellver and Mallorca, 2007). Moreover he is the author of several volumes of a series of guides titled Mallorca passa a passa (Mallorca, Step by Step, 2003-2010). His books for children and young people include Contes del call (Stories from the Ghetto, 1984); Contes tàrtars de Mallorca (Tartar Stories from Mallorca, 1988); La madona del mar i els pirates (The Madonna of the Sea and the Pirates, 1990, winner of the Guillem Cifre de Colonya Prize); Tirant lo Blanc, la vida cavalleresca i les Illes Balears (Tirant lo Blanc, the Chivalrous Life and the Balearic Islands, 1990); La veritable història del capità Aranya (The True Story of Captain Aranya, 1992); Contes àrabs de Medina Mayurka (Arab Stories from Medina Mayurka, 1993); and L'espiadimonis (The Dragonfly, 1996, winner of the Picanya Enric Valor Prize for Young People's Fiction).

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



Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Documentation: Miquel Ferrà i Martorell.
Photographs: author’s personal files.
Translated by Julie Wark.