Joan Margarit (Sanaüja, 1938) is a poet, architect and he has also been Professor at the Barcelona School of Architecture since 1968.

From his literary beginnings, always in the realm of poetry, are such Spanish-language works as Cantos para la coral de un hombre solo (Cantos for a One-Man Choir, 1963), Doméstico nací (I Was Born Domestic, 1965) and Predicción para un bárbaro (Prediction for a Barbarian, 1979). L'ombra de l'altre mar (Shadow of the Old Sea) and Vell malentès (Old Misunderstanding – winner of the Critic's Prize), which both appeared in 1981, were his first published works in Catalan, the language he has since used, to this day, for his literary creation. Hence, in 1982 he published Cants d'Hekatonim de Tifundis (Songs of Hecatonimus of Tifundis) for which he received the Miquel de Palol Prize the same year. From this period, too, are the works Raquel, La fosca melangia de Robinson Crusoe (The Dark Melancholy of Robinson Crusoe) El passat i la joia (The Past and the Jewel, 1983) and L'illa del tresor (Treasure Isand – winner of the "Flor Natural" Prize in the literary competition of the Jocs Florals of Barcelona – 1985). All of these titles have been collected in the volume L'ordre del temps. Poesia 1980 - 1984 (The Order of Time. Poetry 1980 – 1984), which was published in 1985. He was awarded the 1985 Carles Riba Prize for his work Mar d'hivern (Winter Sea) and the 1982 "Serra d’Or" Prize for his La dona del navegant (The Seafarer's Wife). The volume Els primers freds. Poesia 1975-1995 (The First Chills. Poetry 1975 – 1995), which was published in 2004, is an essential poetic selection made by the author himself in bringing together such representative items of his oeuvre as – besides the aforementioned works – Edat roja (Red Age, 1991), Els motius del llop (The Wolf's Motives, 1993), Aiguaforts (Etchings, 1995), Estació de França (Station for France, 1999) and Joana (2002). Also notable are the collections Càlcul d'estructures (Calculus of Structures, 2005) and Casa de misericòrdia (House of Mercy, 2007), the latter work being awarded, in 2008, the "Cavall Verd" Prize of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers), the PEN Club Rosalía de Castro Prize and the National Prize for Literature.

In 2015 he was awarded the Jaume Fuster dels Escriptors en Llengua Catalana Prize, in recognition of his trajectory and the popularity of his work.

Joan Margarit's poetic work is, without a doubt, an outstanding contribution to contemporary Catalan poetry.

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



Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Documentation: Toni Terrades and Martí Rom.
Photographs: Author's personal files.