Joan Prats Sobrepere (Reus, 1940 - Barcelona, 2019) has an Arts Degree (specialising in General Romance Philology) and worked as head of Catalan Language and Literature Studies in a secondary school.

He has studied the work of Salvador Espriu and has published, as fruit of his endeavours, the books Salvador Espriu, missatge personal (Salvador Espriu, Personal Message, 1992), winner of the 1991 Salvador Espriu Prize, and the reading guide El caminant i el mur (The Wayfarer and the Wall, 1988), along with a number of articles and conference papers. He was one of the first students of the literary work of Domènec Guansé and has published the monograph Notícia de Domènec Guansé, escriptor (News of Domènec Guansé, Writer, 1996), and articles in periodical publications, one of which received an Honourable Mention at the Jocs Florals literary competition that was held in Munich (1977).

He has also published jointly-authored works and has written for different reviews, besides producing a range of papers on toponymy, one of which received the 1978 Josep Iglésies Award (1978). He is a co-founder of the Association of Catalan Language Teachers (APLEC) and of the research and information review Quaderns de Capafonts Revista de Recerca i Divulgació (2004-2008). He has published his own poetic versions of some writings of Dorothy Parker (2001-2002), edited and expanded the l'Antologia de la Literatura Catalana (Anthology of Catalan Literature) by Antoni Comas (1986, and successive editions) and edited Àngel Guimerà's drama Terra baixa (Lowland), which was published along with an extensive study of the work (1999 and successive editions).

He has also written the novel L'illa afortunada (The Fortunate Island), winner of the Pere Calders Prize and published by Proa in 2006, and is co-author of the vernacular survey Meteorologia popular de les Garrigues (Popular Meteorology of les Garrigues, 2008). He has published the poems compilation Marea Alta (2013), illustrated by Pere Prats. He is about to publish the novel Roses al desert (Roses in the Desert), which is cosmopolitan in tone.

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




Web page: Carme Ros for AELC.
Documentation from the author's personal files.
Photographs: Cover photograph @ Carme Esteve. Other photographs from author's personal files.
Translated by Julie Wark.