Ramon Pla i Arxé (Barcelona, 1943) is a teacher and literary critic. He has a PhD in Romance Philology from the University of Barcelona, with a thesis on the history and culture review L'Avenç, for which he received the Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Prize and the Jaume Massó i Torrents Prize for Literary Research, the latter being awarded by the Institute of Catalan Studies (1976). He has been a lecturer in the department of Catalan Philology at the University of Barcelona since 1973. He has also been Dean of the Faculty of Philology (1986 – 1988) and director-general of Universities of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia (1993 – 1995). Ramon Pla has been a literary critic for the newspaper Diari de Barcelona (1979), Hoja del Lunes (1981 – 1982), Avui (1983 – 1987 and 1996 – 2000) and El País (1988 1995). In 2000 he was awarded the Jaume Bofill i Ferro Prize for Literary Criticism. He has also written as an opera critic for the newspaper Avui (1990 – 1995) as well as publishing in La Vanguardia (2000 – 2004).

He has published La poètica de Joan Maragall (The Poetic Works of Joan Maragall, 1999), Textos crítics (Critical Texts, 2001) and, together with Enric Bou, he edited Creació i crítica en la literatura catalana (Creation and Criticism in Catalan Literature, 1993). He has been a jury member for several literary prizes, including the Sant Jordi (Saint George), City of Barcelona, Josep Vallverdú, Martí Dot and Joan Crexells awards, besides being a sponsor of the Lluís Carulla Foundation and the Blanquerna Foundation. He is also head of institutional relations and publications at the Liceu Opera House, vice-president of the Catalan PEN Club Centre and a consultant to the Open University of Catalonia.

He has been an AELC board member for Catalonia (1993-1996).



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