Isabel-Clara Simó Monllor
Isabel-Clara Simó Monllor was born on 4 April 1943 in Alcoi (Alacante). She studied philosophy at the University of València, where she met the nationalists under the direction of Valencian writer, Joan Fuster. She worked as a secondary school teacher and, in 1968, married the journalist Xavier Dalfó, director of the magazine Canigó. She moved to Barcelona with her family, where she completed her degree in journalism and a doctorate in Romanic studies at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and where she taught translation.
Her first published work was a short-story collection És quan miro que hi veig clar (1979), for which she was awarded the Víctor Català Prize. In Històries perverses, which won her the Crítica Serra d'Or Prize in 1993, she displays her concern about violence, a topic on which she would elaborate in Perfils cruels (1995). In 1997 she published the collection Dones (1997), later adapted for the big screen by Jordi Cadena and directed by Judith Colell. In 1999 she published Contes d'Isabel; later short-story collections include Estimats homes (Una caricatura) published in 2001, and Angelets in 2004.
Isabel-Clara Simó creates very complex characters in her texts with rather conflictive relationships. Her first work of fiction was T'estimo Marta (1986). It was followed in 1990 by Els ulls de Clídice, where she describes the interaction between three people living their relationship in a closed circle, and La veïna. A year later, she published La Nati, and in 1993, La salvatge, which was awarded the Sant Jordi Prize. In 1994, a biographical work on Jacint Verdaguer, entitled El Mossèn, was adapted for radio. La innocent (1995) won the Valencia Prize. El professor de música (1998), was awarded the Crítica dels Escriptors Valencians Prize in 1999. She has also written drama, books of essays and books for children and teenagers. As a script-writer she collaborated with the Group ‘La granja’, series that were part of the program La vida en un xip, (Catalan television TV3).
In 1999, the Catalan Government awarded Isabel-Clara with the Saint George’s Cross. Her works have been translated into German, English, Basque, Castilian, French, Galician, Italian and Dutch. Apart from her prolific career as a novelist, Isabel-Clara Simó has been very active as a journalist, her first articles appearing in Canigó. Since 1999 she has written a column ‘De fil de vint’ for the daily newspaper Avui. In 2003 she published a collection of articles in book form entitled En legítima defensa. She also works for Serra d’Or, El Temps and El País. In addition, she has published essays, including Sobre el nacionalisme (2000), Si em necessites, xiula (2005) and Cartes d'independència a la vora d'una tassa de te (2011), with the writer Patrícia Gabancho.
She has translated from English (Colum McCann, Ursula K. Le Guin), from French (Jean Giono, Jacques Stroumsa), and from Italian (Carlo Cassola, Renzo Rossotti).
In 2013 she was awarded the Premi Jaume Fuster for writers in the Catalan language. With constant re-publication of her work, Isabel-Clara Simó is one of the most popular figures of the contemporary Catalan literary scene.
Compiled by Noèlia Diaz-Vicedo (London)
Bibliography
Poetry
ABCDARI (Alcoi: Marfil, 1995)
El conjur (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2009)
Fiction
Júlia (Barcelona: La Magrana, 1983; 4th edn 1995)
Ídols (Barcelona: La Magrana, 1985; 3rd edn 1995)
T'estimo, Marta (Barcelona: La Magrana, 1986; 3rd edn 1995)
El mossèn (Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1987; 4th edn 1989)
Els ulls de Clídice (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1990; 1994)
La veïna (Barcelona: Àrea, 1990)
Una ombra fosca com un núvol de tempesta (Barcelona: Àrea, 1991)
La Nati (Barcelona: Àrea, 1991)
El mas del Diable (Barcelona: Àrea, 1992)
La salvatge (Barcelona: Columna, 1994; 18th edn 2003)
La innocent (Barcelona: Columna, 1995; 2005)
El professor de música (Barcelona: Columna, 1998)
El gust amarg de la cervesa (Barcelona: Columna, 1999; 2002)
T'imagines la vida sense ell? (Barcelona: Columna-Cercle de Lectors, 2000)/La vida sense ell (Alzira: Bromera, 2013; edn revised by the author)
Hum... Rita! L'home que ensumava dones (València: Editorial 3i4, 2001)
L'home que volava en el trapezi (Barcelona: Columna, 2002)
Adéu-suau (Barcelona. Edicions 62, 2006)
El caníbal (Barcelona: Columna, 2007)
Amor meva (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2010)
Un tros de cel (Alzira: Bromera, 2012)
Els invisibles (Barcelona: Amsterdam, 2013)
L'amant de Picasso (Alzira: Bromera, 2015)
Jonàs (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2016)
Short Stories
És quan miro que hi veig clar (Barcelona: Selecta, 1979)
Bresca (Barcelona: Laia, 1985)
Alcoi-Nova York (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1987; 2006)
Històries perverses (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1992; 2002)
Perfils cruels (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1995)
Dones (Barcelona: Columna, 1997)
Contes d'Isabel (Barcelona: Columna, 1999)
Estimats homes (Una caricatura) (Barcelona: Columna, 2001)
Angelets (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2004)
Bons desitjos (Barcelona: Ara Llibres, 2008)
Homes (Alzira: Bromera, 2010)
Relats amb tracte: tracta'm bé. Campanya de prevenció dels maltractaments a la gent gran [with Maribel Bella i Sònia Pallarès] (Lleida: Consell Comarcal del Solsonès, 2013)
Tota aquesta gent (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2014)
Theatre
...I Nora obrí la porta (Barcelona: Revista Entreacte, 1990)
Còmplices (Alzira: Bromera, 2004)
La visita (Alzira: Bromera, 2012)
Children’s Books
El secret d'en Toni Trull (Barcelona: Barcanova, 1986)
Raquel (Barcelona: Columna, 1992; 26th edn 2007)
Joel (Barcelona: Columna, 1996; 4th edn 2005)
De nom, Emili (Barcelona: Columna, 1998)
El Jordi i la sargantana (Barcelona: Columna, 2000)
Tria de contes (Barcelona: Columna, 2001)
Dora diu que no (Alzira: Bromera, 2006)
Els ulls de l'assassí (Alzira: Bromera, 2006)
Missatges a la biblioteca (Barcelona: Actar, 2007)
El meu germà Pol (Alzira: Bromera, 2008)
Llir entre cards (Alzira: Fundació Bromera, 2014)
Tzoé (Alzira: Bromera, 2015)
Literary Criticism and Essays
El món de Toni Miró (València: Edicions de La Guerra, 1989)
Sobre el nacionalisme (Carta al meu nét) (Barcelona: Columna, 2000)
Si em necessites, xiula (Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2005)
Ciutadanes: ruta de les dones de Barcelona, l'Hospitalet, Sant Adrià (Barcelona: Institut Municipal de Paisatge Urbà de l'Aj. de Barcelona, 2006)
Adéu, Boadella (Barcelona: Mina, Col. l'Arquer, 2008)
Cartes d'independència a la vora d'una tassa de te [with Patrícia Gabancho] (Barcelona: A Contra Vent, 2011)
Film and Radio Scripts
El mossèn (Catalunya Ràdio, 1988)
El braçalet (Catalunya Ràdio, 1989)
La granja [with other authors] (DCO i TV3, 1989-1990 (dins del programa ‘La vida en un xip’)
La ràdio i el cotxe (Catalunya Ràdio, 1993)
Translations
From English
Le Guin, Ursula K.: L'ull de la garsa [Translation of The Eye of the Heron] (Barcelona: Columna, 1997)
McCann, Colum: En la foscor [Translation of This Side of Brightness] (Barcelona: Columna, 2000)
From French
Giono, Jean: L'home que plantava arbres [Translation of L'Homme qui plantait des arbres] (Barcelona: Viena, 2008; 5th edn 2011)
Stroumsa, Jacques: Tria la vida: El violinista d'Auschwitz [Translation of Tu choisiras la vie] (Barcelona: Columna, 1999)
From Italian
Cassola, Carlo: Demasiado tarde [Translation of Troppo tardi] (Barcelona: Dopesa, 1975)
Rossotti, Renzo: FBI [Translation of FBI] (Barcelona: Dopesa, 1974)
Translations into Foreign Languages
English
A Corpse of One's Own [Translation of Una ombra fosca, com un núvol de tempesta by Patricia Hart] (New York: Peter Lang, 1993)
Julia [Translation of Júlia by Patricia Hart] (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 1998)
Interviews/in the Media
Colomer, Victor: Isabel-Clara Simó, escriptora: 'Més que por l'independentisme fa mandra' (Cara a Cara, 12 September 1998) available online at https://cac.drac.com/199809/19980912.html