Agustí Bartra i Lleonart (; 1908 – 1982) was a Spanish poet, writer, translator and University Professor in

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

Biography

Descendant of a country family, he passed part of his childhood in

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

, although he had been born in the city of Barcelona 8 November 1908. When his family came back to Barcelona he entered to work in a textile warehouse. In year 1934 won a competition of social stories, and short time afterwards he started to collaborate in magazines such as ''Friend'' and ''Meridian''.Biography
He took part in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

with the republican side, and exiled himself at the beginning of 1939: he passed through several refugee camps ( Sant Cebrià, Argelers and Agde) before arriving in Roissy-in Brie (Paris), where he met the writer Anna Murià (who was also exile) with whom he would marry and have two children. In 1940 they embarked towards

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, and left after to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and to Mexico. In there, they fixed their residence and set up the magazine ''Lletres'' (Letters; 1944–1947). Likewise also made stays in the United States of America, especially between 1949 and 1950, 1960 and 1963, being nominated in year 1969 as professor of Hispano-American poetry at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. In 1970 they returned to

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

; they settled in the city of

Terrassa Terrassa () is a city in central-eastern Catalonia and in the province of Barcelona (Spain). It is one of the two capitals of Vallès Occidental county, being the larger in both area and population. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ''Te ...

, where he died on 8 July 1982. In year 1973 his work ''Els himnes'' (The hymns) was rewarded with the ''Prize Carles Riba of poetry'', and in 1981 with the Cross of Sant Jordi (granted by the

Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

). In 1982, ''Haikús d'Arsinal'' was rewarded with the ''Prize of the Criticism of Catalan poetry''.

References

External links

* 1908 births 1982 deaths Writers from Barcelona Catalan-language poets Catalan-language writers 20th-century translators 20th-century Spanish poets {{Catalonia-translator-stub