David Castillo

David Castillo (Barcelona, 1961) is a journalist, critic, novelist and poet. Since his youth he has been a tireless cultural activist and has formed a wide range of alternative groups with which he has organised and directed poetry festivals, while also working with jazz and rock musicians. He has been editor of the cultural pages of the daily Avui since 1989 and has been awarded several prizes for his journalistic work, including four Atlàntida prizes, among which that of 2000 was for the best columnist in the Catalan language.

He has published three anthologies, a biography of Bob Dylan, the verse novel El llibre dels mals catalans (The Book of Catalan Ills, 2010), three novels published by Proa El cel de l’infern (Hell’s Sky – winner of the 1999 Crexells Prize for the Best Catalan Novel), No miris enrere (Don’t Look Back – winner of the 2001 Sant Jordi (St George) Prize), El mar de la tranquil·litat (Sea of Calm, 2010) and another, recently published novel Barcelona no existeix (Barcelona Doesn’t Exist, Empúries, 2014). The first two novels have been published in Spanish by Anagrama and they have also been translated into other languages. His poetry includes La muntanya russa (Roller Coaster, Pagès, 1992), Tenebra (Darkness, Proa, 1994), Game Over (winner of the Carles Riba Prize, Proa, 1997), El pont de Mühlberg (Mühlberg Bridge, Proa, 2000), Seguint l’huracà (Following the Hurricane, Arola, 2001), Menta (Mint, La Garua, 2005), Downtown (Icària, 2006), Esquena nua (Naked Back, Proa, 2006) and Doble zero (Double Zero, Proa, 2011). He has also published two bilingual Catalan-Spanish anthologies, Bandera negra (Black Flag, Sial) and En tierra de nadie (In No Man’s Land, Malaga City Council).

He was a lecturer for five years in the Communications Faculty at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has directed several cultural symposia and poetry seminars, among Barcelona Poetry Week.