Josep Maria Espinàs
Encyclopedia
Josep Maria Espinàs i Massip (ʒuˈzɛb məˈɾi.ə əspiˈnas) (Barcelona
, 7 March 1927) is a Catalan
writer, journalist and publisher known for his novels, travel writing and newspaper articles.
Author of an extensive body of literature, Espinàs has been honored with the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, el Premi Joanot Martorell, el Premi Sant Jordi and el Premi Víctor Català. In the 1960s he played a key role in the development of the Nova Cançó
movement, cofounding the musical group Els Setze Jutges
. Espinàs cowrote, with Jaume Picas, the lyrics to the official anthem of FC Barcelona
, El Cant del Barça
.
schools until 1945, when he entered the School of Law of the Universitat de Barcelona, earning his degree in 1949. That same year he won the Guimerà prize with his first article. He practiced as an attorney until 1955, when he joined the publishing house Editorial Destino.
In 1983, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi
.
Espinàs is cofounder of the publishing house La Campana. He has traveled extensively on foot through rural areas of Catalonia and other parts of Spain, publishing books about many of these voyages, and has also traveled on foot through much of Europe
, Israel
, India
, Nepal
, Thailand
, Malaysia, Hong Kong
, Japan
, and the United States
.
Prize for the novel Com ganivets o flames. From this point he began to enjoy success as an author with Dotze bumerangs (1954) i El gandul (1955). With Tots som iguals (1956), which appeared in English translation in the United States in 1961 as By nature equal, he gained international recognition, earning critical acclaim from the New York Herald Tribune
, New York Times, and Washington Post and the magazine Book of the Month.
In 1961 he won the Premi Sant Jordi de novel·la with L'últim replà, and began a long period in which he produced few novels, the exceptions being La collita del diable (1968) and Vermell i passa (1992).
In 1986 he published letters addressed to his daughter, who has Down's Syndrome, under the title El teu nom és Olga (Your name is Olga). The book was a success and was translated into numerous languages.
. He sang and recorded Catalan versions of Georges Brassens
songs, traditional Catalan songs, and original compositions to further the Nova Cançó
movement, but when professional Catalan-language singers appeared he retired from singing. He also wrote and recorded a story for children, Viatge a la Lluna (Voyage to the Moon), with music by Xavier Montsalvatge
.
In 2007 he was awarded the Medalla d'Honor of the Parliament of Catalonia
in recognition of his work with Els Setze Jutges.
, entitled A la vora de...., which ran uninterrupted until January 1999, winning various awards. Later he moved to write for El Periódico de Catalunya
, with the opinion column, which he still writes.
He has also hosted television interview programs - Personal i intrasferible on Canal 33; Identitats on TV3
, from 1984 to 1988; and Senyals on Canal 33, from 1989 to 1990.
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, 7 March 1927) is a Catalan
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
writer, journalist and publisher known for his novels, travel writing and newspaper articles.
Author of an extensive body of literature, Espinàs has been honored with the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, el Premi Joanot Martorell, el Premi Sant Jordi and el Premi Víctor Català. In the 1960s he played a key role in the development of the Nova Cançó
Nova Cançó
The Nova Cançó was an artistic movement that promoted Catalan music in Francoist Spain. The movement sought to normalize use of the Catalan language in popular music and denounced the injustices of the Franco regime. Musically, it created a new genre, with roots in the French Nouvelle Chanson...
movement, cofounding the musical group Els Setze Jutges
Els Setze Jutges
Els Setze Jutges was a group of singers in the Catalan language founded in 1961 by Miquel Porter i Moix, Remei Margarit, and Josep Maria Espinàs...
. Espinàs cowrote, with Jaume Picas, the lyrics to the official anthem of FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
, El Cant del Barça
Cant del Barça
Cant del Barça is the official hymn of FC Barcelona. It was commissioned in 1974 to celebrate the club's 75th anniversary. The words were written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs and the music was composed by Manuel Valls....
.
Biography
Espinàs was born on 7 March 1927 in the city of Barcelona. He studied at PiaristsPiarists
The Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools or, in short, Piarists , is the name of the oldest Catholic educational order also known as the Scolopi, Escolapios or Poor Clerics of the Mother of God...
schools until 1945, when he entered the School of Law of the Universitat de Barcelona, earning his degree in 1949. That same year he won the Guimerà prize with his first article. He practiced as an attorney until 1955, when he joined the publishing house Editorial Destino.
In 1983, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi
Creu de Sant Jordi
The Creu de Sant Jordi is the highest civil distinction awarded in Catalonia . It was established by the Generalitat de Catalunya autonomous government by virtue of the Decret 457/1981 de 18 de desembre in 1981.. The medal was designed by goldsmith Joaquim Capdevila.-Recipients:*List of...
.
Espinàs is cofounder of the publishing house La Campana. He has traveled extensively on foot through rural areas of Catalonia and other parts of Spain, publishing books about many of these voyages, and has also traveled on foot through much of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Malaysia, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Literary career
In 1953 he became known as a writer when he obtained the Joanot MartorellJoanot Martorell
Joanot Martorell was a Valencian knight and the author of the novel Tirant lo Blanch, which is written in Valencian...
Prize for the novel Com ganivets o flames. From this point he began to enjoy success as an author with Dotze bumerangs (1954) i El gandul (1955). With Tots som iguals (1956), which appeared in English translation in the United States in 1961 as By nature equal, he gained international recognition, earning critical acclaim from the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
, New York Times, and Washington Post and the magazine Book of the Month.
In 1961 he won the Premi Sant Jordi de novel·la with L'últim replà, and began a long period in which he produced few novels, the exceptions being La collita del diable (1968) and Vermell i passa (1992).
In 1986 he published letters addressed to his daughter, who has Down's Syndrome, under the title El teu nom és Olga (Your name is Olga). The book was a success and was translated into numerous languages.
La Nova Cançó
In 1961 Espinàs was one of the founders, with Miquel Porter i Moix and Remei Margarit, of Els Setze JutgesEls Setze Jutges
Els Setze Jutges was a group of singers in the Catalan language founded in 1961 by Miquel Porter i Moix, Remei Margarit, and Josep Maria Espinàs...
. He sang and recorded Catalan versions of Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...
songs, traditional Catalan songs, and original compositions to further the Nova Cançó
Nova Cançó
The Nova Cançó was an artistic movement that promoted Catalan music in Francoist Spain. The movement sought to normalize use of the Catalan language in popular music and denounced the injustices of the Franco regime. Musically, it created a new genre, with roots in the French Nouvelle Chanson...
movement, but when professional Catalan-language singers appeared he retired from singing. He also wrote and recorded a story for children, Viatge a la Lluna (Voyage to the Moon), with music by Xavier Montsalvatge
Xavier Montsalvatge
Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols was a Spanish Catalan composer and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music during the latter half of the 20th century.-Life:...
.
In 2007 he was awarded the Medalla d'Honor of the Parliament of Catalonia
Parliament of Catalonia
The Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members , who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four...
in recognition of his work with Els Setze Jutges.
Journalism
On 23 April 1976 he began to publish a daily column in the new Catalan-language daily AvuiAvui
Avui is a Catalan daily newspaper, based in Barcelona, Catalonia . It is one of the city's newest papers, having been founded in 1976. The editorial line is Catalan nationalist.- History :...
, entitled A la vora de...., which ran uninterrupted until January 1999, winning various awards. Later he moved to write for El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya
El Periódico de Catalunya is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and owned by Grupo Zeta. El Periódico is actually two newspapers, publishing separate editions in Spanish and in Catalan...
, with the opinion column, which he still writes.
He has also hosted television interview programs - Personal i intrasferible on Canal 33; Identitats on TV3
TV3 (Catalonia)
TV3 is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies...
, from 1984 to 1988; and Senyals on Canal 33, from 1989 to 1990.
Short stories
- Vestir-se per morir. Barcelona: Albertí, 1958.
- Variétés. Barcelona: Selecta, 1959.
- Els joves i els altres. Barcelona: Albertí, 1960.
- Els germans petits de tothom. Barcelona: La Galera, 1968.
- Guia de ciutadans anònims (amb dibuixos de Cesc). Barcelona: La Campana, 1993.
- Un racó de paraigua. Barcelona: La Campana, 1997.
Novels
- Com ganivets o flames. Barcelona: Selecta, 1954.
- Dotze bumerangs. Barcelona: Albertí, 1954.
- El gandul. Barcelona: Selecta, 1955.
- Tots som iguals. Barcelona: Aymà, 1956.
- La trampa. Barcelona: Albertí, 1956.
- L´home de la guitarra. Barcelona: Albertí, 1957.
- Combat de nit. Barcelona: Aymà, 1959.
- L´últim replà. Barcelona: Club Editor, 1962.
- La collita del diable. Barcelona: Alfaguara, 1968.
- Vermell i passa. Barcelona: La Campana, 1992.
Non-fiction prose
- Petit observatori. Barcelona: Pòrtic, 1971.
- La gent tal com és. Barcelona: Selecta, 1971.
- Visions de Cadaqués. Barcelona: Grup 33, 1978.
- Els nostres objectes de cada dia. Barcelona: Ed. 62, 1981.
- El teu nom és Olga. Barcelona: La Campana, 1986.
- Inventari de jubilacions. Barcelona: La Campana, 1992.
- L'ecologisme és un egoisme. Barcelona: La Campana, 1993.
Travel narratives
- Viatge al Pirineu de Lleida. Barcelona: Selecta, 1957; Barcelona: La Campana, 2000.
- Viatge al Priorat. Barcelona: Selecta, 1962; Barcelona: La Campana, 2000.
- Viatge a la Segarra. Barcelona: Dopesa, 1972; Barcelona: La Campana, 2000.
- A peu per la Terra Alta. Barcelona: La Campana, 1989.
- A peu per la Llitera. Barcelona: La Campana, 1990.
- A peu per l'Alt Maestrat. Barcelona: La Campana, 1991.
- A peu pels camins de cendra. Barcelona: La Campana, 1994.
- A peu per l'Alcalatén. Barcelona: La Campana, 1996.
- A peu pel Matarranya. Barcelona: La Campana, 1996.
- A peu pel Comtat i la Marina. Barcelona: La Campana, 1998.
- A peu per Castella. Barcelona: La Campana, 1999.
- A peu pel País Basc. Barcelona: La Campana, 2000.
- A peu per Extremadura. Barcelona: La Campana, 2001.
- A peu per Mallorca sen veure el mar. Barcelona: La Campana, 2005.
- A peu per Aragó. El Somontano. Barcelona: La Campana, 2006.
- A peu per l´Alt Camp. Barcelona: La Campana, 2007.
- A peu per Múrcia. Barcelona: La Campana, 2009.
Memoirs
- El nen de la plaça Ballot. Barcelona: La Campana, 1988.
- Relacions Particulars. Barcelona: La Campana, 2007.
- El meu ofici. Barcelona: La Campana, 2008.
Biography and Interviews
- Josep M. de Sagarra. Barcelona: Alcides, 1962.
- Identitats (3 vol.). Barcelona: La Campana, 1985-1988.
- Lluís LlachLluís LlachLluís Llach i Grande is a Catalan composer and songwriter.Though partially dependent on arrangers, like Manel Camp or Carles Cases in his early works, Llach's songwriting has largely evolved from the more basic early compositions to a vastly more complex harmonic and melodic writing...
. Història de les seves cançons explicada a Josep Maria Espinàs: La Campana, 1986.
Other
- Carrers de Barcelona. Barcelona: Selecta, 1961.
- Barcelona, blanc i negre (amb Xavier Miserachs). Barcelona: Aymà, 1964.
- Això també és Barcelona. Barcelona: Lumen, 1965.
- Els germans petits de tothom. Barcelona: La Galera, 1988.
- Viatge pels grans magatzems. Barcelona: La Campana, 1993.
Work written in Spanish
- Guía del Pirineo de Lérida, 1958 (Travel narrative).
- Guía de Tarragona, Barcelona: Ed. Noguer, 1964 (Travel narrative).
- Pi de la Serra, Oviedo: Ed. Júcar, 1974 (Non-fiction).
Discography with Els Setze Jutges
- Espinàs canta Brassens (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1962.
- Cançons tradicionals catalanes (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1962.
- Espinàs canta les seves cançons (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1963.
- Nadal a casa (Josep Maria Espinàs - Maria Cinta), 1963.
- Tu no estàs sol (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1963.
- Josep Maria Espinàs i orquestra (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1964.
- Els planificadors (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1965.
- Els noctàmbuls (Josep Maria Espinàs), 1966.