Joan Margarit i Consarnau

Joan Margarit i Consarnau (born in Sanaüja, May 11, 1938) is a Catalan poet and architect.

He grew up at the time of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. His family moved many times around Catalonia. In 1954 the family settled at the Canary Islands, but in 1956 Margarit returned to Barcelona to complete architecture studies, lodging at the University Hall of Residence the Col·legi Major Sant Jordi. He married Mariona Ribalta in 1963.

Since 1975, Margarit has lived in Sant Just Desvern. Since 1980 he has worked there as an architect with friend and associate Carle Buxadé. In addition to that, from 1968 until recently, he was also Professor of Structural Calculations at Barcelona's Technical School of Architecture in the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Margarit first started publishing poetry in Spanish, in 1963 and 1965. After a break of ten years, he published Crónica, with help of his friend Joaquim Marco, director of the Ocnos series at the publishing house Barral Editores. From 1980 onwards, he began to establish himself as a poet in the Catalan language. His works were translated to English, Russian and Hebrew. Recitations of Margarit's poems with musical backdrop were recorded by the musicians Pere Rovira, Gerard Quintana, Araceli Aiguaviva and Miquel Poveda.

Works

Poetry in Catalan

* "L'ombra de l'altre mar" Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1981
* "Vell malentès" València: Eliseu Climent/3i4, 1981 (Premi Vicent Andrés Estellés de poesia)
* "El passat i la joia" Vic: Eumo, 1982
* "Cants d'Hekatònim de Tifundis" Barcelona: La Gaia Ciència, 1982
* "Raquel: la fosca melangia de Robinson Crusoe" Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1983
* "L'ordre del temps" Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1985
* "Mar d'hivern" Barcelona: Proa, 1986
* "Cantata de Sant Just" Alacant: Institut d'Estudis Juan Gil-Albert, 1987
* "La dona del navegant" Barcelona: La Magrana, 1987
* "Llum de plua" Barcelona: Península, 1987
* "Poema per a un fris" Barcelona: Escola d'Arquitectes de Barcelona, 1987
* "Edat roja" Barcelona: Columna, 1990
* "Els motius del llop" Barcelona: Columna, 1993
* "Aiguaforts" Barcelona: Columna, 1995
* "Remolcadors entre la boira" Argentona: L'Aixernador, 1995; translated to English as "Tugs in the fog", Anna Crowe (Bloodaxe Books, 2006)
* "Estació de França" Madrid: Hiperión, 1999
* "Poesia amorosa completa (1980-2000)" Barcelona: Proa, 2001
* "Joana" Barcelona: Proa, 2002
* "Els primers freds. Poesia 1975-1995" Barcelona: Proa, 2004
* "Càlcul d’estructures". Col. Óssa Menor, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2005

Other translated works

*To Russian::Огни мгновений "(Flames of the Moments)", Saint Petersburg State University, 2003
*To Hebrew::מעולם לא ראיתי את עצמי יווני "(I Have Never Seen Myself as a Greek)", Shlomo Avayou, Keshev Publishing House, Tel Aviv, 2004

External links

* [http://www.joanmargarit.com Personal homepage of Joan Margarit]
* [http://www.uoc.edu/lletra/noms/joanmargarit/index.html Biography and critical analysis at lletrA, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya]