Màrius Sampere (Barcelona, 1928-2018) was a Catalan poet.

With his first compilation, L'home i el límit, he was awarded the Carles Riba poetry prize in 1963, but the book could not be published until 1968. In the 1970's and 1980's, he received further awards, such as the Recull-Maria Ribas i Carreras and the Miquel de Palol poetry prize from Girona. In the 1990's and earlies 2000's, his literary career was finally honoured by readers and institutions alike with prizes such as the Crítica Serra d'Or for Subllum (2000), and the Premi de la Crítica, the Ciutat de Barcelona and the Nacional de Cultura for Les imminències (2002), the compilation that gave him the major public recognition. He was also awarded, in 2010, with the Jaume Fuster prize from the Catalan language writers. With over 25 books of poems, being awarded the most important prizes of Catalan literature, and having the admiration from critics and readers alike, Màrius Sampere could well be considered one of the most prominent poets of Catalan literature nowadays.

He said: "Perhaps is too dare to say, but Poetry doesn't serve any purpose, and this is the greatest thing about it. A meditation, an expansion, a magical act. It is useless, but it is everything. It is the first content of life and it is what gives life's its salt and substance."

He also published the novels El gratacel (2010) and Àlien i la terra promesa (2018) and the compilations of poetic proses Pandemònium, o la dansa del si mateix (2008) and L'escala de cargol (2014).

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



Page by Josep Miàs for AELC.
Photograph: © Carme Esteve/AELC.
Translated by Josep Miàs.