Carme Riera

Carme Riera Guilera (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈkarmə riˈeɾə], born in Palma, 1948) is a novelist and essayist. She has also written short stories, scripts for radio and television and literary criticism. She holds a doctorate in Hispanic Philology and is a professor of Spanish literature at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

She attended the Sacred Heart primary school and the Joan Alcover Institute in Palma, where she met Majorcan writers and fell in love with a teacher, Francisco Llinás.

In 1968 she moved to Barcelona to study Hispanic Philology in the Department of Philosophy and Letters of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She graduated in 1973 and the following year married Francisco Llinás and was hired by Manuel Blecua to give classes in the Department.

That year her son Ferran was born, and she began her literary career. She writes in Catalan and Spanish. Her self-translations are often published at the same time. She currently lives in Barcelona.

Her best-known work is the historical novel "Dins el darrer blau" (1994), winner of several prizes (see below) and the first novel in Catalan to win the Premio Nacional de Narrativa (National Prize for Narrative), awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. An English translation by Kathleen McNerney, "Blue Horizons of no Return: Sephardic Journeys", is awaiting publication.

Influences

The extensive background reader of Carme Riera, consequence of a passionate attitude towards scholarly literature, forms a vast frame of references. Sappho, Petrarch, Goethe and Virginia Woolf parade through its pages, but also classical Spanish writers, as Cervantes, Clarin, Laforet, Valle-Inclán, Gil de Biedma ... However, the author has placed the roots of her narrative in Majorcan tales and the work of two crucial writers in the construction of contemporary Catalan narrative: Caterina Albert and Rodoreda

Works

• Te deix, amor, la mar com a penyora, 1975 (I Leave You, My Love, The Sea as My Pledge)
• Je pos per testimoni les gavines, 1977
• Quasi bé un conte, la vida de Ramon Llull, 1980
• Els cementiris de Barcelona. Barcelona: Edhasa, 1981 (The Cemeteries of Barcelona)
• Una primavera per a Domenico Guarini. Barcelona: Montesinos Editor, S.A., 1981 (A Springtime for Domenico Guarini)
• Epitelis tendríssims. Barcelona: Edicions 62 S.A., 1981
• “El reportaje”. Short story. In: Doce relatos de mujeres. Navajo, Ymelda (ed.), Madrid: Alianza, 1982, pp. 181–191. Cuentos.
• Qüestió d'amor propi. Barcelona: Laia, 1987
• La molt exemplar història del Gos Màgic i la seva cua. Barcelona: Empúries S.A., Editorial, 1988
• La escuela de Barcelona. Barcelona: Anagrama, 1988. Essay. Winner of the XVI Premio Anagrama 1988 (The School of Barcelona)
• Joc de miralls, 1989 (Mirror game)
• La poesía de Carlos Barral. Barcelona: Edicions 62 S.A., 1990 (The Poetry of Carlos Barral)
• Hay veneno y Jazmín en tu tinta, aproximación a la, 1991
• Contra l'amor en conpanyia i altres relats. Barcelona: Destino, 1991
• Dins el darrer blau, 1994 (Blue Horizons of no Return)
• “Princesa meva, lletra d'àngel.” Short Story. In: Érase una vez la paz. Barcelona: Planeta, 1996, pp. 187–193. Cuentos.
• Quadern d'una espera, 1998
• “Mon semblable, mon frère”. Short Story. In: Barcelona, un día. Regàs, Rosa (comp.) . Madrid: Alfaguara, 1998, pp. 357–376. Cuentos.
• Cap al cel obert. Barcelona: Destino, 2000. Novel.
• “Metamorfosis”. Short Story. In: Orosia. Jaca: Pirineum Multimedia, 2002, pp. 147–155. Cuentos.
• La meitat de l'ánima, 2003. Novel. Winner of the 2003 Premi Sant Jordi (Half of the Soul)

Awards

• 1980 Prudenci Bertrana Prize for her novel Una primavera per a Domenico Guarini (A Springtime for Domenico Guarini)
• 1989 Ramon Llull Prize for her Joc de miralls (A Play of Mirrors)
• 1994 Josep Pla Prize for Dins el darrer blau (In the Last Shade of Blue), a historical novel which also received the Joan Crexells Prize, the Lletra d'Or (Golden Letter) Prize, the Ministry of Culture National Prize for Narrative and the Elio Vittorini Prize from the Syracuse Department of Tourism.
• 2000, the Generalitat (Autonomous Government) of Catalonia awarded her the Cross of Saint George. She is a member of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carme Riera.

• Carme Riera at the Association of Catalan Language Writers. (English) (Catalan) (Spanish)
• Webpage devoted to Carme Riera (lletrA (UOC), Catalan Literature Online) (English)