Joan Margarit i Consarnau


Joan Margarit i Consarnau is a Spanish poet, architect and retired professor. Most of his work is written in the Catalan language. He won the 2019 Miguel de Cervantes Prize.

Life and career

Born to Joan Margarit i Serradell, an architect from Barcelona, and Trinitat Consarnau i Sabaté, a teacher at l'Ametlla de Mar, 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, they settled in the Canary Islands, but in 1956 Margarit returned to Barcelona to complete architecture studies, lodging at the University hall of residence the Collegi Major Sant Jordi. A year after he finished his studies, he met Mariona Ribalta and they married a year later. They have three daughters and a son.
Since 1975, Margarit has lived in Sant Just Desvern. Since 1980, he has worked there as an architect with his 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.
Since 1963, Magrit has firmly established himself as a recognisable Spanish poet. He first started publishing poetry in Spanish in 1963 and 1965. After a ten-year break, he published Crónica with help from 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 have been translated into 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.
In October 2008, Magrit received the Premio Nacional de Poesía for Casa de Misericordia.

Awards

Essays in Spanish