Joan Josep Isern (Barcelona, 1950) is a literary critic who has been a regular columnist in the literary supplement of the newspaper Avui since 1989. He has published approximately six hundred articles in this publication to date (autumn 2007), as well as some eighty pieces in the monthly review Qué leer, in which he is head of the Catalan literature section. He also writes regularly for the reviews Serra d'Or and Caràcters.

He is a founder-member of the editorial boards of the reviews Cultura (between 1989 and 1996) and Literatures, which was published by the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers) between 2003 and 2006. He wrote for Diari de Barcelona, between 1983 and 1984, and his work appears in many other publications, such as Quimera, Canigó and Cavall Fort.

Notable among his publications are the books 25 anys de Festes Fabra (25 Years of Fabra Festivities) and Quaranta anys de Premis Recull (Forty Years of the Recull Prizes), a work that describes the history of the Blanes-based prize and the work of the jury in which he has participated in recent years. Also noteworthy is his work as a jury member for a great number of literary prizes, for example the Sant Jordi (Saint George) Prize for the Novel, the "Joanot Martorell" Prize, the Catalan Critics' prizes, the City of Barcelona prizes, and the "Llorenç Villalonga, Ciutat de Palma" Prize, inter alia.

Joan Josep Isern teaches literary criticism at the Ateneu Barcelonés (Athenaeum of Barcelona) School of Writing, of which he is a founder-member. Furthermore, he is a reader for several publishing houses and has worked on the Diccionari de la Literatura Catalana (Dictionary of Catalan Literature) published by Encyclopèdia Catalana, and also the courses of "Com neix un llibre" (How a Book is Born) on literary creation and publication.

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



Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Documentation: Joan Josep Isern.
Translation: Julie Wark.
Photographs: Author's personal files.