The poetry of the Catalan author was recognized in 2019 with the Cervantes Prize
The poet and architect Joan Margarit has died at the age of 82 in Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona), as a result of lymphoma, as he himself told La Vanguardia in the interview he gave a month ago. The disease had been diagnosed a little less than a year ago.
With an extensive original poetic work in Catalan and Spanish, he has received numerous awards such as the Crítica Serra d’Or on three occasions, the National Prize for Literature of the Generalitat, and the Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, among others.
Bilingual author
With an extensive original poetic work in Catalan and translated by himself into Spanish, he has received numerous awards
In 2019 he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, which recognized his bilingual poetry. Margarit wrote his first books in Spanish, but the bulk of his work was originally written in Catalan and simultaneously translated by himself into Spanish.
Given his fragile state of health, in December the Kings traveled to Barcelona to present him the Cervantes Prize in person. For the occasion, he recited two poems, first in Catalan and then in Spanish. One of them, Around Babel, is an unpublished composition that is part of his latest book, immediately published: Animal de bosc (Proa / Visor).
In the following video, you can see the poet reciting this same poem for La Vanguardia readers, first in Catalan and then in Spanish.
The son of the architect Joan Margarit I Serradell and the teacher Trinitat Consarnau, he was born in the middle of the Spanish Civil War in Sanaüja, in the Segarra region.
Son of war
He was born in the middle of the Spanish Civil War in Sanaüja (Segarra)
Architect and professor of Calculation of Structures at the Barcelona School of Architecture since 1968, he soon became interested in poetry and began to write his poems, influenced mainly by Antonio Machado. But it will not be until 1980 that he will do so in Catalan, encouraged by his friendship with the poet Miquel Martí I Pol.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
