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Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women's Writing (CCWW)

Maria-Mercé Marçal

Maria-Mercè Marçal, poet, essayist, translator and critic, was born on 13 November 1952 in Barcelona, although she always claimed her origins were in Ivars d’Urgells, where she spent her childhood. In 1969 she went to University of Barcelona to start her degree in Classical Philology. During her time at university, she started writing poetry as part of the group of young poets ‘El Mall’ with Xavier Bru de Sala and Ramon Pinyol, whom she married in 1972. This same year, Marçal started as a teacher of Catalan language and Literature, a task she never abandoned. A year later in 1973, she co-founded the publishing house ‘El Mall’ along with Xavier and Ramon.

Maria-Mercè_Marçal, photo 1995 by Rafael Vargas (Moritz Barcelona via WIkiCommons CC BY-SA 2.0).jpg
Maria-Mercè Marçal photographed in 1995 by Rafael Vargas (source: Moritz Barcelona via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0)

Her literary career began with Cau de llunes (Den of Moons), which won the prestigious Carles Riba Prize for poetry in 1976. The same year that she set out on her political career with PSAN, and was a member of the executive until 1979. In 1980 she divorced her husband, Ramon Pinyol;  her second book Bruixa de dol (The Mourning Witch), published in 1979, narrates her ‘itinerary of a single woman’ and her friendship with other women. The same year she created the course on feminism at the Summer University of Prada de Conflent, that she would coordinate until 1985.

In 1982 she published Sal oberta (Open Salt), which or the first time in Catalan poetry, elaborates on the experience of her pregnancy. Another important book for the Catalan tradition was published Terra de Mai (The Neverland) the same year. These fifteen sestinas poetically narrate the experience of a same-sex love relationship for the first time in Catalan literature. This book was later reprinted in La germana, l’estrangera, published in 1985. These poems would be dedicated to the first relationship with her daughter Heura, who was born in 1980. Her last book of poems, Desglaç (Thawning), was included in her complete works, Llengua Abolida (Abolished Language), published in 1989. In 1992 she proposed the creation of Catalan Women Writers as part of the Catalan Centre for PEN.

She died in Barcelona on 5 July 1998 of cancer at the age of 45. A book of poetry entitled Raó del cos (Reason of the Body) edited by Lluïsa Julià with an introduction by Pere Gimferrer was published posthumously in 2000.

Compiled by Noèlia Diaz-Vicedo (London)