Pere Calders

Pere Calders i Rossinyol (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpeɾə kəlˈdes]; 29 September 1912 – 21 July 1994) was a Catalan writer and cartoonist. He became known at the beginning of the 1930s for his drawings, articles and stories which were published in newspapers and magazines. At twenty-four, he published his first books: the collection of stories El primer arlequí (The first harlequin), and the brief novel La glòria del doctor Larén (Doctor Laren's glory). Exiled in Mexico for twenty-three years, along with his brother-in-law (the writer Avel·lí Artís Gener "Tísner"), he composed his most critically well-received works, in particular the short stories Cròniques de la veritat oculta (Chronicles of the hidden truth, 1955) and Gent de l'alta vall (People of the high valley, 1957), and the novel Ronda naval sota la boira (Raval round under the fog, 1966). He returned to Catalonia in 1962. Alongside publishing work and journalistic collaborations, he wrote L'ombra de l'atzavara (The shadow of the agave, 1964), with which he won the Premi Sant Jordi de novel·la. With the arrival of democracy, he became popular as a result of the success of the theatrical assembly Antaviana, created by the company Dagoll Dagom, based on some of Pere's short stories. Since then, most of his books have been republished. He received the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes (1986), and shortly before his death was awarded the National Prize from Journalism (1993).He was a Member of the Association of Catalan-language Writers.