Josep Maria Aloy (Manresa, 1948 - 2020) was a writer, teacher and young people's and children's literature critic.

He studied Catalan Philology at the University of Barcelona and worked as a teacher at the Badia-Solé School in Manresa for fifteen years, after which he was employed for more than thirty years in the Department of Justice of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia as a juvenile justice specialist. In 1991 he was awarded the Serra i Moret Prize for Fiction for the unpublished novel Queni. He has published the children’s fiction titles Renoi, quin conte! (1996) and Una picoreta estranya (2000), as well as the book of children's poems La lluna, la Bruna (2014).

A specialist in the life and works of Josep Vallverdú, he edited the collection of short stories Contes en òrbita (1991) and is author of the books Camins i paraules: Josep Vallverdú, l'escriptor i l'home (1998) and Retrats. Josep Vallverdú (2013). As a scholar in the field of children's literature, he wrote the book Et diran que llegeixis, Bernat. Mig segle de Literatura Catalana per a joves (1960-2010) (2010) in which he offers a reading guide for boys and girls. Moreover, he has edited the works Bestiolari de Joana Raspall (2014) and Olor de maduixa (2016). He writes as a literary critic for magazines including Faristol and Escola Catalana and also for the daily Regió7. He has been a jury member for several literary prizes and an advisor for the publisher La Galera. Since 2012 he has been writing the blog Mascaró de proa about children's and young people's literature, and for which he was awarded the 2014 Aurora Díaz-Plaja Prize.

Josep M. Aloy was a member of Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers – AELC).



Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Photographs: Author’s personal files.
Translated by Julie Wark.