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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Rafael VALLBONA
(Barcelona, 1960)
Journalist, writer and television scriptwriter. He portrays the Raval district in Plaça dels Àngels, through the eyes of an ex-convict who is released from the Model prison. He also portrays the district of Gràcia with his contradictions as a small town within a big city.
Tina VALLÈS
(Barcelona, 1976)
Writer, proofreader, and translator. Through her blog L’aeroplà del Raval she intertwines her portrayals of daily life on the Raval into her literary voice: locals, its elderly inhabitants, the construction workers. She captures the attention of her readers in her collection of books by Labreu in 2006. We can also appreciate the small neighbourhood life of Ciutat Vella.in her work Un altre got d’absenta (2007). In 2012, she won the Mercè Rodoreda fiction Prize for El parèntesi més llarg, a whole mosaic of urban occurrences and, in 2017, the Llibres Anagrama Award with La memòria de l'arbre.
Juli VALLMITJANA
(Barcelona, 1873 – 1937)
Narrator and playwright. He has deep knowledge of the Barcelona suburbs that make up the foundation of his work. He is the voice of the hidden Barcelona: he portrays the darkest side of Barcelona’s social reality and its resilience in his work De la ciutat vella (1907); Sota Montjuïc (1908) and La xava (1910). He has been considered by many to be the plastic artist of Barcelona’s backstreets.
Mario VARGAS LLOSA
(Arequipa, 1936)
Peruvian novelist and politician. In 1962, he attracted public attention with his work The Time of the Hero. In 1967, he settled in Barcelona in Carrer Osi, 50 in the district of Sarrià, where he lived for a decade and formed part of the Latin American boom, united by Carme Balcells. In the words of Xavier Ayén., “an explosion of fine literature, a tight circle of great friends, an international phenomenon of reader multiplication, a profound political and literary debate complete with squabbles and personal dramas”. Vargas Llosa was one of the most important literary voices of the time. In 2010, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Manuel VÁZQUEZ MONTALBÁN
( Barcelona, 1939 – Bangkok, 2003)
Journalist and writer. He created the legendary figure of Inspector Carvalho through which we discover Barcelona in the sixties and seventies. As well as some forty works of fiction and hundreds of press articles, he also wrote a dozen essays on the city, such as Barcelona cap on vas? (1991). He was a big fan of cooking and a Barça supporter. In the district of the Raval, where he was born, there is a plaque bearing his name.
Jacint VERDAGUER
(Folgueroles, 1845 – Barcelona, 1902)
The renowned poet of the Renaissance and Romanticism and one of the most renowned authors of Catalan literature, a creator of vast and profound work. He spent his final days at the “Villa Joana” in Vallvidrera where he finished his complete works and the book Al cel. Since 1962 the villa has been converted to Casa Verdaguer. Following a refurbishment, in 2014 it became part of the MUHBA (Barcelona City History Museum) as “Casa Verdaguer de la literatura” [The Verdaguer House of Literature] in the form of a museum to reflect on the city’s literature.
Ignacio VIDAL-FOLCH
(Barcelona, 1956)
Journalist and writer, he directed the cultural supplements of La Vanguardia and ABC and has collaborated with other media such as El País or Televisión Española. He has published an important number of titles such as Amigos que no he vuelto a ver (1997), Más lejos y más abajo (1999, premio Mario Vargas Llosa NH de relatos) and Noche sobre noche (2009), No se lo digas a nadie (1987), La libertad (1996), La cabeza de plástico (1999), Turistas del ideal (2005), Contramundo (2006), Lo que cuenta es la ilusión (2012) or Pronto seremos felices (2014). This last novel was awarded with the Ciudad de Barcelona literature prize in 2015. He is also the author of the literary ghide Barcelona: Museo secreto (2009).
Enric VILA
(Barcelona, 1972)
Journalist and writer, he is a journalism lecturer at the Faculty of Blanquerna Communication Sciences at the University Ramon Llull, and contributor to newspapers El Nacional, El Punt Avui and the magazine Sàpiens. He is the author of diverse work such as entre el rostre i la màscara (2003), Lluís Companys, la veritat no necessita màrtirs (2006), El nostre heroi, Josep Pla (2009), Breu història de la Rambla (2012), and Londres-París-Barcelona. Viatge al cor de la tempesta (2014).
Enrique VILA-MATAS
(Barcelona, 1948)
Writer. He is one of the city’s most recognized authors with most international exposure, having had his work translated into a total of 29 languages. His books are a journey into literature. Barcelona features in novels such as El viaje vertical (1999).
Emili VILANOVA
(Barcelona, 1840 – 1905)
Writer. In his work Escenes barcelonines (1886) he portrays the ancient Barcelona of the fourteenth century through photographs of the city at the time. It is the finest illustrated work from that period, written in lively language, and not at all verbose. He formed part of Frederic Soler’s group Pitarra which imitated the intellectual and refined environment of the noucentists.