Carme Riera
b. 1948 · Spanish novelist, essayist and screenwriter writing in Catalan and Spanish
Carme Riera Guilera (born in Palma de Mallorca, 1948) is a Spanish writer who works in both Catalan and Spanish. A novelist, short-story writer and essayist, she has also taught at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and her work is a key reference in contemporary Catalan fiction by women.
Raised in Palma, she moved to Barcelona in 1965 to study Hispanic Philology. After completing her degrees, she began an academic career alongside her literary one. Her first collection of stories, published in 1975, dealt with themes rare at the time, such as love between women, written in colloquial Majorcan speech. Her first novel, from 1980, marked a shift in genre and aim, mixing detective fiction, essay and journalistic registers.
From the 1990s onward, her historical novels, such as Dins el darrer blau, brought her wider recognition. They interweave the identities of Jews and Majorcans under the Inquisition and in colonial Cuba, with careful documentary research. Her legacy lies in that blend of formal experimentation and attention to overlooked stories, along with her seat in the Royal Spanish Academy since 2012.
Key works
- Te deix, amor, la mar com a penyora (1975), the stories that opened her career
- Una primavera per a Domenico Guarini (1980), her first novel and winner of the Prudenci Bertrana Prize
- Joc de miralls (1989), a playful novel with an ironic gaze
- Dins el darrer blau (1994), a historical novel awarded the National Prize for Narrative
- Cap al cel obert (2000), a historical novel set in colonial Cuba
Curiosities
National prize
In 1995 she won the National Prize for Narrative for *Dins el darrer blau*, and in 2015 the National Prize for Spanish Letters.
First book
Her first story collection won the Recull-Francesc Puig i Llensa Prize in 1974, a year before its book publication.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.