Writers and Barcelona
Barcelona has been and keeps being a perfect scene for literary works, a source of inspiration for writers who were born here and a welcoming place for writers from around the world who have described it in their books.
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Sergio PITOL
(Puebla, 1933)
Writer, translator, and diplomat. Most prominent as an human rights activist and renowned for his elegant and eclectic prose, positioning him as one of the first post-modernism writers. Winner of the Cervantes Award and the National Award of Mexico among others, having published some thirty novels and works of fiction. He lived in Barcelona for three years (1969-1973) where he was a translator for publishing houses such as Seix Barral, Tusquests and Anagrama -publisher of his work. He was part of the so-called Latin American boom and became great friends with Cristina Fernández Cubas and Enrique Vila-Matas.
Josep PLA
(Palafrugell, 1897 – Llofriu, 1981)
Writer and journalist. One of the most renowned authors of twentieth century Catalan literature. He spent his childhood years in Barcelona until the beginning of the war; a time that inspired his work El quadern gris and some of his most famous stories on the figures of the thirties portrayed in Homenots and also in Barcelona. Papers d’un estudiant –winner of the 1957 Lletra d’Or Award–, Un senyor de Barcelona, Barcelona una discussió entranyable, Un mort a Barcelona. The city has named streets, schools and institutes after him. Publishing house Edicions 62 has been awarding the Josep Pla literature prize since 1968.
Alexandre PLANA
(Lleida, 1889 – Banyuls de la Maranda, 1940)
Wrtier and poet, member of the Noucentisme movement. A regular at Ateneu gatherings, he is mentor to Josep Pla and Josep Maria de Sagarra. In his poems he portrays daily life in early twentieth century Barcelona, while his novels such as A l’ombra de Santa Maria del Mar take the reader on a journey through the city from Pedralbes to the Born district.
Sergi PONS CODINA
(Barcelona, 1979)
He's author of the novels Mars del Carib (2014) and Dies de ratafia (2017), where he draws a critical and acid portrait of modernity and the touristic reality of Barcelona. Both titles happen in the Sant Andreu del Palomar district of Barcelona.
Baltasar PORCEL
(Andratx, 1937 – Barcelona, 2009)
Writer and journalist. He is one of the best Catalan literature novelists of the second half of the twentieth century. He settled in the district of Vallvidrera from the sixties onwards in a large house on Carrer de les Corberes, where the majority of his work is written. It was also used as a place for the gatherings and meetings of several intellectuals, particularly Joan Fuster i Móra, Joan Fuster, and Joaquim Molas.
Valentí PUIG
(Palma de Mallorca, 1949)
Novelist, poet, and essayist. A regular contributor to the press, he wrote novels such as Barcelona cau in which he tells the story of the last three days of the Civil War when the Republican dream was demolished, and life and silence suddenly took over.
Jeroni PUJADES
(1568 - Castelló d’Empúries, 1635)
Historian, lawyer, and chronicler. In 1600, he published Dietaris thanks to which we were able to learn about the customs and life in Barcelona at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries. He also wrote the Crònica universal del Principat de Catalunya focused on the mythological Barcelonian Alcides-Heracles -la novena barca, d’aquí Barcanona- that inspired Verdaguer to write Atlàntida and Ode to Barcelona.
Carlos PUJOL
(Barcelona, 1936-2012)
Novelist, poet, translator and literary critic, was born and lived in Barcelona. Doctor in Romance Philology and Professor of French Literature at the University of Barcelona. He was a translator of French, English, Italian, Catalan and Spanish, as well as author of anthologies and editions of works by Balzac, Voltaire, Baudelaire, Orwell and Perucho. Two of his works have a notable link with Barcelona: The Secrets of San Gervasio, a police novel in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson makes a stay in Barcelona to solve a crime, and Barcelona and their lives, a set of brief articles about the cornerstones, history, customs and mysteries of the city.
Adrià PUJOL
(Begur, 1974)
Anthropologist and writer. In 2014, he published his autobiography Picadura de Barcelona, the story of a night in the city at the beginning of the twenty-first century for a talented man from Empordà who has a way with words. He was highly praised by critics and during 2016 he wrote a montly series entitled Els barcelonins [The People of Barcelona] for the ”Avenç”. He enjoys experimenting with language, tense and narrative forms. He is a teacher at design school Elisava, and in 1999, he created the Observatory of Daily Life, to develop research projects on Barcelona's history and ethnography. He is also the author of Entre el poder i la màscara. Una etnohistòria del carnestoltes a Barcelona, which was to have been his doctoral thesis, but he published the book before reading it.