Sergi Belbel (Terrassa, 1963), a playwright, theatre director, and translator, graduated in Romance Philology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 1986. He was a founding member of the UAB Theatre Studio, lecturer in Dramaturgy at the Theatre Institute of Barcelona (1988 – 2006), artistic director at the National Theatre of Catalonia (2006 – 2013), and president of the Board of Trustees of Sala Beckett, Barcelona (2016 – 2023).

His first play, Calidoscopios y faros de hoy, received the First Marqués de Bradomín Award (1985). Ever since then, he has regularly published plays to great critical and public acclaim. In 1987, he was awarded the City of Granollers Prize for Dins la seva memòria and the Ignasi Iglésias Prize for Elsa Schneider. His other works include La sang (1988), Després de la pluja (winner of the 1993-1995 Generalitat de Catalunya National Prize for Dramatic Literature, and the 1994 Premi Serra d’Or Prize), Morir (winner of the 1995 Born de Teatre Prize and the 2006 Prize for Dramatic Literature), El temps de Plank (1999), Forasters (winner of the 2005 Butaca Prize for Best Play and Stage Show), Mòbil (2005), A la Toscana (2007), Fora de joc (2010), Si no t'hagués conegut (2018), Hamlet.01 (2022). 

Sergi Belbel’s international presence is evident in the large number of his plays performed abroad and translations of his plays into more than twenty languages. In 2017, the French version of Després de la pluja (Après la pluie) was staged in the Comedie Française.

With his agile, well-paced plays constantly musing on subjects like communication in human relations and time, he is one of the leading representatives of contemporary Catalan theatre.

In 2021, he received the prestigious Sant Jordi Prize for his first novel Morir-ne disset, which was followed two years later by a second novel, Acte de fe.

He is a member of the Associació d’Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC – Association of Catalan Language Writers) and of the Associació Catalana de Dramatúrgia (Catalan Playwrights’ Association).

Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Documentation: Sergi Belbel, Txiqui Vanaclocha, and Toni Terrades.
Photographs: © Felip Mena.
Translation: Julie Wark.