Joan Margarit i Consarnau

Joan Margarit i Consarnau (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈan mərɣəˈɾit i kunsərˈnaw]) (born in Sanaüja, 11 May 1938) is a Catalan poet, architect and retired professor.
Born to Joan Margarit i Serradell, an architect from Barcelona, and Trinitat Consarnau i Sabaté, a teacher at l'Ametlla de Mar (Tarragona), he grew up at the time of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. His family moved many times around Catalonia. In 1954, they settled in the Canary Islands, but in 1956 Margarit returned to Barcelona to complete architecture studies, lodging at the University hall of residence the Collegi Major Sant Jordi. A year after he finished his studies, he met Mariona Ribalta and they married a year later (1963). They have three daughters (Mònica, Anna and Joana) and a son (Carlos).
Since 1975, Margarit has lived in Sant Just Desvern. Since 1980, he has worked there as an architect with his friend and associate Carle Buxadé. In addition to that, from 1968 until recently, he was also Professor of Structural Calculations at Barcelona's Technical School of Architecture in the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
Since 1963, Magrit has firmly established himself as a recognisable Spanish poet. He first started publishing poetry in Spanish in 1963 and 1965. After a ten-year break, he published Crónica with help from his friend Joaquim Marco, director of the Ocnos series at the publishing house Barral Editores. From 1980 onwards, he began to establish himself as a poet in the Catalan language. His works have been translated into English, Russian and Hebrew. Recitations of Margarit's poems with musical backdrop were recorded by the musicians Pere Rovira, Gerard Quintana, Araceli Aiguaviva and Miquel Poveda.

In October 2008, Magrit received the Premio Nacional de Poesía for Casa de Misericordia.

Essays in Spanish

• Nuevas cartas a un joven poeta (New Letters to a Young Poet), Barril & Barral, 2009. English translation by Christopher Maurer, Chicago, Swan Isle Press, 2011.

Poetry in Catalan

• L'ombra de l'altre mar Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1981
• Vell malentès València: Eliseu Climent/3i4, 1981 (Premi Vicent Andrés Estellés de poesia)
• El passat i la joia Vic: Eumo, 1982
• Cants d'Hekatònim de Tifundis Barcelona: La Gaia Ciència, 1982
• Raquel: la fosca melangia de Robinson Crusoe Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1983
• L'ordre del temps Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1985
• Mar d'hivern Barcelona: Proa, 1986
• Cantata de Sant Just Alacant: Institut d'Estudis Juan Gil-Albert, 1987
• La dona del navegant Barcelona: La Magrana, 1987
• Llum de plua Barcelona: Península, 1987
• Poema per a un fris Barcelona: Escola d'Arquitectes de Barcelona, 1987
• Edat roja Barcelona: Columna, 1990
• Els motius del llop Barcelona: Columna, 1993
• Aiguaforts Barcelona: Columna, 1995
• Remolcadors entre la boira Argentona: L'Aixernador, 1995; translated to English as Tugs in the Fog, Anna Crowe (Bloodaxe Books, 2006)
• Estació de França Madrid: Hiperión, 1999
• Poesia amorosa completa (1980–2000) Barcelona: Proa, 2001
• Joana Barcelona: Proa, 2002
• Els primers freds. Poesia 1975-1995 Barcelona: Proa, 2004
• Càlcul d’estructures Barcelona: Col. Óssa Menor, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2005
• Casa de Misericòrdia Barcelona: Col. Óssa Menor, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2007
• Misteriosament feliç Barcelona: Col. Óssa Menor, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2008
• Noves cartes a un jove poeta Barcelona: Col. Óssa Menor, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2009
• No era lluny ni difícil Barcelona: Col. Óssa Menor, Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2010

Other translated works

• In Russian:

Огни мгновений (Flames of the Moments), Saint Petersburg State University, 2003

• In English:

Tugs in the Fog: Selected Poems, tr. Anna Crowe, Bloodaxe Books, 2006

Strangely Happy, tr. Anna Crowe, Bloodaxe Books, 2011

• In Hebrew:

מעולם לא ראיתי את עצמי יווני (I Have Never Seen Myself as a Greek), Shlomo Avayou, Keshev Publishing House, Tel Aviv, 2004

מבט במראה הפנימית (A look in the inner mirror). Shlomo Avayou, Keshev Publishing House, Tel Aviv, 2008