Joan Margarit
(Sanaüja, La Segarra, 1938) is a poet and architect, retired professor from the Barcelona School of Architecture, and a fellow of the Institute of Catalan Studies. In 2008 he was awarded the National Prize for Literature of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia and also the National Poetry Prize of the Spanish Ministry of Culture for his work Casa de Misericòrdia (House of Mercy). He has published a considerable number of collections of poems, recent among them being Joana (2002), Càlcul d'estructures (Calculus of Structures, 2005), Casa de Misericòrdia (2007), Misteriosament feliç (Mysteriously Happy, 2008), No era lluny ni difícil (It Was Neither Far Nor Difficult, 2010) and Es perd el senyal (The Signal Is Lost, 2012), all of which were published by Enciclopèdia Catalana. His poems have been included in several anthologies. He has also published the prose work Noves cartes a un jove poeta (New Letters to a Young Poet, Proa, 2009), in which he reflects on poetic activity. As an architect, he worked in partnership with Carles Buxadé, with whom he constructed, inter alia, the cupola of a market in Vitoria (winner of the European Prize for Metal Structures) and renovated the Aymerich Factory in Terrassa to house the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia. He was also a member of the winning team in the competition for designing the Montjuïc stadium and ring for the Barcelona Olympics.
Update: 27 December 2012