Albert Roig

(Diccionari de la Literatura Catalana – Dictionary of Catalan Literature)

Born in Tortosa in 1959, Albert Roig is a poet and essayist. After several fringe publications, he embarked on his main body of poetic work with the publication of Córrer la taronja (Pass over the Orange, 1989) and Que no passa (It's Not Happening, 1990), winner of the 1989 Ausiàs March Prize). In 1993, he was awarded the Carles Riba Prize for Vedat (Prohibited, 1994). Córrer la taronja 1979-2001 (2002) is a volume of his collected works, consisting of his early publications and many new additions. La vestidura i el dol (The Vestments and the Mourning, 1998), winner of the Miquel de Palol Prize, starts out from two poems in the collection Córrer la taronja 1979-2001. He subsequently published A l'encesa (To the Lighting, 2007), which was awarded the Sant Cugat Prize in Memory of Gabriel Ferrater).

Roig upholds the use of vernacular variants of Catalan, while simultaneously imbibing from the typical dislocation of baroque aesthetics, the hermetism of modern poetry starting from symbolism, and contemporary painting's accent on formalisation. As an essayist, his writing takes two forms. First is the polemical essay, with L'estiu de les paparres (The Summer of Ticks), La societat secreta dels poetes (The Secret Society of Poets, 1992), and El gos del poeta (The Poet's Dog, 1994). Second, is the creative essay, with the titles Creació del poema (Creation of the Poem, 1998) and I pelava la taronja amb les dents: Ars amandi (And He was Peeling the Orange with His Teeth: Ars Amandi, 2005).

He has also produced two anthologies of poems, L'escriptor de poesia. Poètica i antologia del XX (The Writer of Poetry: The Poetry and Anthology of the Twentieth Century, 1991), which he co-authored with Jordi Balcells, and L'artista de la paraula. Poesia catalana del segle XX (The Artist and the Word: Twentieth-Century Catalan Poetry, 1993), co-authored with Xavier Lloveras. He was awarded the Cristòfol Despuig Prize for Fiction for Cecília de Florejats (2006).

  • Poetry As Drawing
  • Massa mare
  • Música de poetes
  • Premi LletrA