Francesc Garriga Barata (Sabadell, 1932 – Sant Cugat del Vallès, 2015) was a poet and teacher.

With a degree in German Philology, he taught in the humanities, mainly as a staff member of the Col·legi Sant Gregori in Barcelona.

In 1959 he published his first collection of poems, Entre el neguit i el silenci (Between Disquiet and Silence), which was followed by Paraules (Words, 1962) and Paraules cap al tard (Words Towards Evening, 1973). After these early works he did not publish again until 1990 when his Els colors de la nit (Colours of the Night) appeared. In 1991, he received the Vila de Vallirana-Josep M. López Picó Poetry Prize for Setembre (September 1992). Literary recognition came in his mature years during which he published most of his titles, which include Ombres (Shadows, 2000), Temps en blanc (Blank Time, 2003), La nit dels peixos (Night of the Fish, 2005), winner of the Golden Eglantine Prize in the 2004 “Jocs Florals” literary competition of Barcelona, and Camins de serp (Paths of the Snake, 2009). Ragtime (2011) was the winner of the 2012 Cavall Verd-Josep M. Llompart Prize. The same year, the collection Tornar és lluny (Coming Back Is Far, 2013) was awarded the prestigious Carles Riba Prize. In 2014 he published the anthology of poems Demà no és mai (Tomorrow Is Never) and, in 2015, the work Swing.

Francesc Garriga was editor of the Spanish edition of the magazine FMR in its early years (1989-2009), and wrote for this publication as an art critic. He took part in cultural programmes for radio and television, among them Avisa’ns quan arribi el 2000 (1997-1999).

In 2017 LaBreu published Garriga's complete poetic works, Cosmonauta.




Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Photograph: © Carme Esteve / AELC.
Translated by Julie Wark.