Francesc Sales (Barcelona 1947 – 1995).

A writer and teacher, he had an Arts degree from the University of Barcelona. In 1981 he was awarded the Víctor Català Prize for his collection of short stories Les alveolars a la Romània (Alveolars in Romania). He also published the novel Biern (1989) and another collection of short stories, L'àngel de l'abisme (The Angel of the Abyss, 1992). Moreover, he wrote a notable, wide-ranging array of books for young people, these including Fugir (Flee, 1985, finalist for the Joaquim Ruyra Prize); Les cartes de la Mila (Mila's Letters, 1985, Vaixell de Vapor Prize); El secret de les màquines (The Secret of the Machines, 1988); Escrit a l'ordinador: diari d'un noi de quinze anys (Written on My Computer: Diary of a Fifteen-Year-Old Boy, 1990); El trencament (Break-up, 1991); El meu amic Pau (My Friend Pau, 1992); and El pes de la càrrega (The Weight of the Load, Gran Angular Prize, 1992).

He was co-author with Mercè Company of Fer-ne quaranta (Turning Forty, 1987), which was illustrated by Cesc and Roser Capdevila, and he also co-authored with Mercè Company Cria fills (Raising Children, 1989). Among his children's books are En Pandolfi a la gran ciutat (Pandolfi in the Big City), La lluna (The Moon), and Ibrahim, un noi del Marroc (Ibrahim, a Boy from Morocco), all of which were published in 1984. Another book for children, Més enllà del núvol blanc (Beyond the White Cloud), was published in 1991.

He translated works by Italo Calvino, Gianni Rodari, Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Alberto Moravia, and other writers. He was director of the Odissea collection of young people's fiction for the publishing house Empúries, and of the El Brot Jove collection for Pòrtic.



Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Documentation: Martí Sales.
Photographs: © Martí Sales.
Translation: Julie Wark.