Xavier Amorós (Reus, 1923) is a poet and prose writer. His poetry, which he began writing in 1940, has evolved through different forms to its final stage of historical realism in Guardeu-me la paraula (Keep my Word) 1960, Qui enganya, para (Let the Deceiver Stop), the latter of which was awarded the Carles Riba Prize in1964. "His poetry starts from Noucentism (a cultural-political movement in Catalonia at the beginning of the twentieth century), then oscillates towards symbolism, finally to remain with historical realism where it concludes at the point where it might become repetitive". He also wrote Història sentimental (Sentimental Story) (1954), a play which received the Santiago Rusiòol Prize in the Catalan Language Jocs Florals (Literary Competition) in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1956.

After a long period of silence, he started to write prose in the mid-1980s. In 1983, he received the Catalan Literature Prize of the Generalitat (Autonomous Government) of Catalonia for poetry, with his anthology Poemes (1959-1964). In 1985 he published a historical novel on an autobiographical basis entitled L'agulla en un paller (The Needle in a Haystack), which is to be followed by further memoirs in the form of a novel-chronicle in two volumes, El camí dels morts (The Way of the Dead) and Temps estranys (Strange Times), the first of which goes from 1941 to 1950, and the second from 1951 to 1960. At the same time, he is publishing collections of journalistic pieces Cafè París, Botigues de mar (Sea Boutiques), De Reus estant (From Reus) and Tomb de ravals, (A Turn around the Suburbs), which has been described by Anna M. Gil of the newspaper Avui as "a literary chronicle of everyday life in Reus throughout the authorís life".

He is an Honorary Member of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (Association of Catalan Language Writers) and a member of the Centre Català del PEN Club (PEN Club Catalan Centre).

In January 1998 the Centre de Lectura de Reus (Readers' Centre of Reus) named him as an Honorary Member while, in September that year, the Reus City Council named him as an Illustrious Son of the city.



Web page: M. Lluïsa Amorós.
Photographs: Author's personal files.
Translation: Julie Wark.