Baltasar Porcel

Baltasar Porcel i Pujol ([bəltəˈza puɾˈsɛl]; Andratx, Majorca, March 14, 1937 – Barcelona, July 1, 2009) was a Spanish writer, journalist and literary critic. His enormous legacy credited him as one of the greatest authors in Catalan literature from the 20th century.

He was born on 14 March 1937 in Andratx, Majorca. His catalan language works has been translated into Spanish, German, English, French, Italian and Vietnamese among others. He also won several literary prizes. As a journalist he worked in La Vanguardia, Última Hora and Catalunya Ràdio. Since 1960 he lived in both Barcelona and Majorca. He was the president of the Catalan Institute for the Mediterranean since 1989 to 2000. In 2001 he won the Ramon Llull Novel Award for L'emperador o l'ull del vent . In 2002 he won the National prize of Literature of Catalonia and in 2007 the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes. He also received in Italy the Bocaccio Prize, in France the Prix Méditerranée and in the United States the Critic's Choice.

He was married with the Valencian writer Concha Alós, Spanish translator of some of his works.

Porcel died on 1 July 2009 at the age of 72 after several years battling cancer.