Carles Torner (Barcelona, 1963) was awarded the Amadeu Oller Prize for his poetry collection A la ciutat blanca (1984) and, the same year, the Carles Riba Prize for Als límits de la sal. These collections were followed by L’àngel del saqueig (1989), Viure després (1998 – winner of the Catalan Poetry Critic’s Prize), La núvia d’Europa (2008), and Vint-i-set Nadals i un rei (2019).

In 1997 he published the novel L’estrangera, which was inspired by the biblical Book of Ruth, and in 2023 Ucraïna, mon amour, set in the early months of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. He has also published essays and prose writings with such titles as El principi acollida (1995), Shoah, una pedagogia de la memòria (2002 – about Claude Lanzmann’s film), L’arca de babel (2005), a collection of letters addressed to women activists around the world, and Com ser ambaixador d’un país sense ambaixades (2025), about his forty years of experience working in the international sphere.

He was head of the Literature and Thought Area at the Institut Ramon Llull (2004 – 2010) and has held various positions at PEN International since 1993, including that of executive director at its London headquarters (2014 – 2021) and his present position as the organisation’s vice-president.

He is a member of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC – Association of Catalan Language Writers).

Updated web page: Josep Miàs for AELC.
Photographs: Valentyna Naumenko (profile) and author’s personal files.
Translation: Julie Wark.