Maria Barbal

Maria Barbal (2008)

Maria Barbal (Tremp, Pallars Jussà, 1949) is a Catalan writer.

Career

Even though she has lived in Barcelona from the 1960s onward, the literary world of her early work as an author concentrates on the Pallars county of her childhood and adolescence, a rural surrounding observed by a critical eye. Her first novel, Pedra de tartera [‘Stone from a boulder’], fully set in that space, was praised by the public and critics alike. Her first novel has been translated into English as Stone in a Landslide.^[1] Later works take up more urban environments. She also is the author of short stories, juvenile novels, and a theatre play.

Barbal’s work has been translated into Asturian, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch. Her literary achievements got her the Creu de Sant Jordi, i.e. Cross of Saint George, the highest medal awarded by the Catalan government.

Literary work

Novels

• 1985 Pedra de tartera
• 1990 Mel i metzines
• 1992 Càmfora
• 1996 Escrivia cartes al cel
• 1999 Carrer Bolívia
• 2002 Cicle de Pallars
• 2003 Bella edat
• 2005 País íntim

Prose

• 2001 Camins de quietud: Un recorergut literari per pobles abandonats del Pirineu

Short narrative

• 1986 La mort de Teresa
• 1994 Ulleres de sol
• 1998 Bari

Child and juvenile narrative

• 1991 Pampallugues
• 1992 Des de la gàbia
• 1995 Espaguetti Miu

Theatre

• 2000 L'helicòpter

References

External links

• Website dedicated to Maria Barbal, as part of lletrA, l'espai de literatura catalana de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (website on Catalan literature by the Open University of Catalunya).
• Author’s website at the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Catalan Writers’ Association), in Catalan.
• The author at the Qui és qui de les lletres catalanes (Who is who in Catalan literature), in Catalan.