Sebastià Serrano (Bellvís, 1944) is a linguist, writer, and Professor of General Linguistics and Communication Theory at the University of Barcelona. He has taught and lectured at universities in Berkeley, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Rome, Frankfurt and Paris, among others.

He is author of a great number of studies on semiotics, general linguistics, poetry, philosophy, theory of science and communication theory. Some of his outstanding titles are Elementos de lingüística matemática (Elements of Mathematical Linguistics, 1975); Lógica, lingüística y matemáticas (Logic, Linguistics and Mathematics, 1977); Literatura i teoria del coneixement (Literature and Theory of Knowledge, 1978); Lingüística i qüestió nacional (Linguistics and the National Question, 1979 – winner of the Joan Fuster Essay Prize); Signes, llengua i cultura (Signs, Language and Culture, 1980 – winner of the Xarxa Essay Prize); Comunicació, societat i llenguatge (Communication, Society and Language, 1993); Cap a una lògica de la seducció (Towards a Logic of Seduction, 1996); Comprendre la comunicació. El llibre del sexe, la poesia i l'empresa (Understanding Communication: The Book of Sex, Poetry and the Enterprise, 1999); El regal de la comunicació (The Gift of Communication, 2003); L'instint de la seducció (The Instinct of Seduction, 2004); Els secrets de la felicitat (The Secrets of Happiness, 2006); La festa dels sentits (Festival of the Senses, 2009); and Del amor, la mentira y la persuasión (On Love, the Lie and Persuasion, 2012). He has also written the novels La paradoxa (The Paradox, 1985) and Elogi de la passió pura (In Praise of Pure Passion, 1990 – winner of the Ramon Llull Prize).

In 2003 he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi (Saint George Cross) of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia and, in 2014, the Eduardo Benot Prize for Scientific and Linguistic Rigour.

He is an honorary member of Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC, Association of Catalan Language Writers).



Web page: Toni Terrades for AELC.
Documentation: Sebastià Serrano.
Photographs: © Fernando Gabrich / Memoro-El banc de la memòria.
Translated by Julie Wark.