Carme Riera

Carme Riera is a professor of Spanish Literature at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and head of the José Agustín Goytisolo Chair at this university. Since 2013, she has occupied the seat labelled with the letter “n” in the Royal Spanish Academy. She is also a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Letters of Barcelona, and honorary member of the Association of Catalan Language Writers. She became known as a writer with the short story collection Te deix, amor, la mar com a penyora (I Give You, Love, the Sea as a Pledge, Edicions 62, 1975), which was awarded the Puig i Llensa Prize of the magazine Recull. Since then, her output of novels, short stories, essays, and children’s literature has been constant.

Her novels have been awarded several prizes, notable amongst which are the Ramon Llull Prize for Joc de miralls (Mirror Play, Grup 62, 1989), the 2000 Elio Vittorini of Syracuse Award for Dins el darrer blau (Blue Horizon of No Return, Destino, 1994), and the Serra d’Or Critics’ Prize and the National Culture Award for Cap al cel obert (To the Open Sky, Destino, 2000), and the BBVA Sant Joan Award for Les darreres paraules (Last Words, Edicions 62, 2016). She has also received awards for her essays and, in recognition of her work as a writer and teacher, she received the prestigious Catalan award, the Creu de Sant Jordi (St George Cross) in 2000, the National Prize for Culture in 2001, the National Prize for Spanish Letters in 2015, the Balearic Islands Gold Medal in 2018, and the Publishers Guild of Catalonia Atlàntida Prize for Life’s Work in 2019.