Jean Serra, El-Biar (Algiers) 1952, is the son of parents from the island of Eivissa (Ibiza) who were exiles in Algeria. He is a poet, prose writer, literary critic, painter and artist, and one of the leading voices of the new poetry written in Eivissa over the last decades. He has contributed towards making this poetry better known by editing the anthology Poetes d'Eivissa (Poets of Eivissa – 1978) and also the book La nostra pròpia veu (Our Own Voice – 1984), which he jointly edited with Isidor Marí. He has written a multitude of articles and prologues and has presented a great number of books besides giving public lectures. In 1994 he received the Sant Jordi (Saint George) Mention of Honour of the Institut d'Estudis Eivissencs (Institute of Eivissa Studies) in recognition of his cultural activism.

His work is outstanding for its stylistic perfection, its formal elegance and the subtlety and penetration of its sentiments. His poetry reveals a strand that shifts from intimate, amorous and erotic lyricism to existential reflection and, in general, meditation on the human condition. His early books of poems have been collected in the volume Estroncar el soroll: 1975-1988 (Make the Noise Cease (1975 – 1988), 1996). A prolific writer, he has subsequently published several collections of poems, for example Des de la quietud (From Quietude – 2003), winner of the Vila de Martorell Prize, and Convocat silenci (Silence Summoned – 2003), winner of the Vicent Andrés Estellés Prize. He also loves and works with the plastic arts, combining poetry, prose and drawing in Més mar i cel i vent que terra (More Land and Sea and Wind than Land – 2004). Among his prose works are Poema al pare (Poem to My Father – 1987), Quadern d'Istanbul (Istanbul Notebook – 2005) and Punt de cadeneta (Chain Stitch – 2007). He frequently works in different areas of the media and writes literary articles for cultural reviews. These have been subsequently compiled and published in several volumes. Again, he is the author of the notable essays Per arribar a ser (To Come to Be – 1994), A la vora de Villangómez (Close to Villangómez – 1995), winner of the Baladre Prize and Ales que s'obriran a un nou embat (Wings That Will Open to a New Beating – 2006).

He is a member of the Associació d’Escriptors de Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers).


Web page: Guillem Molla for AELC.
Translation: Julie Wark.
Photographs: ©Jean Serra, ©Maria Antònia Ferragut, ©Arxiu Vicent Ribas, ©Astorza.