Publisher Description

Catalan poet Joan Margarit is one of Spain's major modern writers. In this final collection he faces the approach of death with courage, humility and even humour. Joan Margarit was presented with the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honour, by King Felipe VI of Spain in 2020. In 2019 he received the Reina Sofa Prize for Ibero-American Poetry.

Author Biography

Joan Margarit was born in 1938 in Sanaja, La Segarra region, in Catalonia. He is an architect, and from 1968 until his retirement was also Professor of Structural Calculations at Barcelona's Technical School of Architecture, working for part of that time on Gaud's Sagrada Famlia cathedral. He first published poetry in Spanish, but after four books decided to write in Catalan. From 1980 he began to establish his reputation as a major Catalan poet. As well as publishing many collections in Catalan, he has published Spanish versions of all his work, and over the past 20 years has gained recognition as a leading poet in Spanish.In 2008 he received the Premio Nacional de Poesa del Estado Espaol for his collection Casa de Misericrdia, as well as the Premi Nacional de Literatura de la Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2013 he was awarded Mexico's Premio de Poetas del Mundo Latino Vctor Sandoval for all his poetry. He was awarded the 2019 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honour, worth 125,000, which generally alternates between Spanish and Latin American writers. He received this from King Felipe VI of Spain at a special ceremony at Barcelona's Palauet Albniz in December 2020, the presentation being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic: the award is usually presented every April at an event in Madrid on the anniversary of the death in 1616 of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.He also received the Reina Sofa Prize for Ibero-American Poetry 2019, the most important poetry award for Spain, Portugal and Latin America.Tugs in the Fog: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2006), translated by Anna Crowe, the first English translation of his Catalan poetry, was a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. Strangely Happy, a selection of later poems from Casa de Misericrdia (2007) and Misteriosament feli (2008), also translated by Anna Crowe, was published by Bloodaxe in 2011. A third translation by Anna Crowe, Love Is a Place (Bloodaxe Books, 2016) includes all the poems from three recent Catalan collections: No era lluny ni difcil (It Wasn't Far Away or Difficult, 2010), Es perd el senyal (The Signal Is Fading, 2012) and Estimar s un lloc (From Where to Begin to Love Again, 2014). His forthcoming collection Wild Creature (Bloodaxe Books, 2021), also translated by Anna Crowe, brings together poems from his two latest collections, Un hivern fascinant (An amazing winter, 2017) and Animal de bosc (Wild creature, 2020).

Table of Contents

AN AMAZING WINTER (2017)12 An amazing winter13 Atocha Hill14 The mysterious island15 Works of love16 Woman about to do her hands17 Building a destiny18 Verdaguer19 Familiarities20 Goyescas21 On insults22 Memory's punishment23 North wind24 Our time25 Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?26 All-in wrestling27 Stroke28 Future29 The albatross30 Road31 Through pain32 What enlightens me33 More than a song34 Thermopylae35 Life36 Golden Age37 Rides38 Photograph of a girl39 De senectute40 Jorge Manrique41 If you read this book42 Time's lyric43 Courage44 Final performances45 Known cruelty46 Purposes47 Behind the glass48 Instants49 Mythology50 The solitude of the sea51 No other beginning53 Epilogue to An amazing winterWILD CREATURE (2020)58 The two snowfalls59 The kitchen60 Museums61 Silent woman62 Ángel González, a memory63 Don't talk about this with anybody64 From poverty65 Clear and difcult66 Seductions, after so much time67 Lost village68 Wild creature69 Beloved time with her70 Iliad71 Note on truth72 Silence and survival73 First lesson74 Orpheus75 The calm of coming back76 The poem and the wall77 The depths of poverty78 Morning in Sant Just79 Family lunch80 A simple farewell81 The nal intimacy82 The beginning of everything83 Protections, consolations84 Rachid Boujedra85 Faraway smiles86 Seagulls87 A price88 Chamber music89 Love and fear90 The long ending91 In the early morning92 What is approaching?93 The picture of Santes Creus monastery94 Autumn in Elizondo95 Final pause96 Murmur of rain97 The house98 Consolations99 Building100 Nightfall for old lovers101 The only loyalty102 Coming out of a concert103 Dark Night of the Soul104 Deep paradox105 Two encounters106 A poignant indifference107 Everything is going quiet108 Mistakes and sewers109 Inspiration110 Gratitude111 Reasons and ways112 Betrayal is no longer possible113 Walking through a forest at night114 A joyous prudence115 Building work116 Under a deep blue sky117 Sick old man118 About Babel119 Josep Maria Subirachs120 A daughter121 Vincent Van Gogh122 With you123 The forgotten dream124 Attempt at conclusions125 Courtyard song126 The past, so difcult at times127 Another happy world128 You, me and music129 Memory of a eld130 Fear of what we are131 Our dead, Raquel132 One winter morning, 2020133 The highest mountain135 Epilogue

Review

I love these poems for many reasons. When I first read Joan Margarit, I heard a powerfully distinctive voice, a spirit of great freedom and energy, humaneness, mischief, and depth. In these naked, subtle, clear poems, surprise and wisdom are often right next to each other… Each of Margarit's poems is its own being, like a living creature with its own body-shape and voice, its own breath and heart-beat. His poems live and breathe in their natural habitat. They are elegant and shapely. And sometimes they seem almost overheard, as if they are singing in the voice the mind uses when talking with itself or with its close close other. It is common enough speech, and it is brilliant, too, sensually beautiful (but not too beautiful) and with a genuine, just-conceived feeling. -- Sharon Olds * on Love Is a Place *
His work is time-haunted and death-haunted, but the poems also have a wonderful, clear, intelligent light in them. Margarit is perhaps firstly a love poet, and, readers can be assured, his loves are more often flesh and blood than steel. -- Carol Rumens * Guardian.com (Poem of the Week) *
He deploys his central themes – the prospect of death and rediscovery of love – with a compelling freshness, wisdom, dignity and enveloping tenderness. Time and again I find myself gasping in admiration, or fighting back tears. And the cover image must be one of the most beautiful of the year. -- Stewart Conn * The Herald (Books of the Year) *

Long Description

Catalan poet Joan Margarit is one of Spain's major modern writers. In this final collection he faces the approach of death with courage, humility and even humour. Joan Margarit was presented with the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honour, by King Felipe VI of Spain in 2020. In 2019 he received the Reina Sof

Review Quote

I love these poems for many reasons. When I first read Joan Margarit, I heard a powerfully distinctive voice, a spirit of great freedom and energy, humaneness, mischief, and depth. In these naked, subtle, clear poems, surprise and wisdom are often right next to each other... Each of Margarit's poems is its own being, like a living creature with its own body-shape and voice, its own breath and heart-beat. His poems live and breathe in their natural habitat. They are elegant and shapely. And sometimes they seem almost overheard, as if they are singing in the voice the mind uses when talking with itself or with its close close other. It is common enough speech, and it is brilliant, too, sensually beautiful (but not too beautiful) and with a genuine, just-conceived feeling.

Description for Sales People

Catalan poet Joan Margarit is one of Spain's major modern writers. In this final collection he faces the approach of death with courage, humility and even humour. Joan Margarit was presented with the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honour, by King Felipe VI of Spain in 2020. In 2019 he received the Reina Sof

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