Carme Riera (Palma, Mallorca, 1948) is a narrator, script-writer and essayist. PhD in Hispanic Philology, she works as a university professor. In 2013 she was elected Member of the Real Academia Española (RAE), and from June 2015 she has been President of CEDRO (Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre), the non-profit association of authors, publishers and journalists.

Carme Riera has written of a body of work rich in both cultural and popular references. Her work has revealed a skilful and prejudice-free use of the colloquial speech of her native Mallorca, ever since her first collection of stories Te deix, amor, la mar com a penyora was published. She has been awarded a number of prizes, amongst them being the 1980 Prudenci Bertrana Prize for her novel Una primavera per a Domenico Guarini, the 1989 Ramon Llull Prize for her Joc de miralls, the 1994 Josep Pla Prize for Dins el darrer blau, a historical novel which also received the Joan Crexells Prize, the Lletra d'Or (Golden Letter) Prize, the Ministry of Culture National Prize for Narrative and the Elio Vittorini Prize from the Syracuse Department of Tourism; the Sant Jordi Prize in 2003 for La meitat de l'ànima, the Terenci Moix Prize in 2013 for Temps d'innocència, or the BBVA Sant Joan Prize in 2016 for Les darreres paraules, among others.

Her essay works have been centered mainly on the 1950's generation of Barcelonian poets in Spanish language: Agustín Goytisolo, Carlos Barral and Jaime Gil de Biedma, among others, of whom she has been in charge of several compilations and editions.

Her trajectory has been recognized with the Creu de Sant Jordi (Saint George Cross) of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government), the Medalla d'Or (Gold Medal) of the Consell Insular de Mallorca (Island Council of Mallorca), the Jaume Fuster of the Catalan Language Writers Prize and the José Luís Giménez Frontín of ACEC association. In 2015 she received the Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas (National Prize for Spanish Letters), in recognition to her literary career.

She is an honorary member of Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC, Association of Catalan Language Writers).



Web page by Lena Paüls for AELC.
Up-dated by: Nausica Solà.
Cover photograph by © Carme Esteve.
Translated by Josep Miàs.