Joan-Lluís Lluís

Joan-Lluís Lluís (Perpignan, 1963). A writer and journalist, he studied Art History at the University of Montpellier. Although he has written some essays, such as Conversa amb el meu gos sobre França i els francesos, winner of the Joan Coromines Prize awarded by the Coordinadora d’Associacions per la Llengua, he has published mostly novels, often characterised by a personal narrative voice that sets him apart from many other writers of his generation. He also regularly contributes opinion pieces to various media outlets.

His works include Els ulls de sorra (Magrana, 1993; reissued by Club Editor in 2023), Vagons robats (Magrana, 1996), El crim de l’escriptor cansat (Magrana, 2000) and the experimental narrative Xocolata desfeta (Animallibres, 2023). With El dia de l’ós (Club Editor, 2022), he won the 2005 Joan Crexells Prize, which marked a qualitative leap in the author’s literary career. Aiguafang (Magrana, 2008) earned him the 2009 Serra d’Or Critics’ Prize, while the novel Cròniques d’un déu coix (Proa, 2013) won him the 2014 Lletra d’Or Prize. In Els invisibles (L’Avenç, 2020), a little gem, he recounts his personal emotional and ideological journey through the Catalan language, and with Salives (Eumo, 2021), he published his first book of poetry.

After travelling to nineteenth-century New Caledonia in El navegant (Proa, 2016), winner of the Serra d’Or Critics’ Prize, and exploring the alternate-history premise of a dictator’s assassination in Jo soc aquell que va matar Franco (Proa, 2018), winner of the Sant Jordi Prize, Lluís takes on another major challenge with Junil a les terres dels bàrbars (Club Editor, 2021), winner of the 2022 Òmnium Prize. The novel tells the story of a young woman despised by her father who, on the fringes of the Roman Empire, learns to read against all odds and sets off on foot through unknown lands.

In his latest work, Una cançó de pluja (Club Editor, 2025), he captivates us once again with a modern fable recounting the journey of Ella-Calla, an orangutan, from her escape from the ship where she was being held captive to the heart of the jungle she longs to return to, where, however, she will come face to face with horror.