Xavier Mas Craviotto

Invitado de Honor

Xavier Mas Craviotto, born in Navàs in 1996, studied Catalan language and literature and completed a postgraduate degree programme in Linguistic Consultancy and Publishing Services at the University of Barcelona. He is currently working as a teacher of Catalan language and culture at Bristol University, in the United Kingdom, and as an editor. He is one of the co-founders of Com ho diria, a digital platform devoted to Catalan youth slang. In addition to the novel La mort lenta (Documenta Award 2018), he has published the poetry collections Renills de cavall negre (Salvador Iborra Young Art Award 2018), La gran nàusea and La llum subterrània (Ausiàs March Award 2022). In total, he has won around 20 literary prizes for prose and poetry and has taken part in some collective short story anthologies. La pell del món is his second novel.

Maria Canelles

Invitado de Honor

Maria Canelles Trabal, born in Barcelona in 1988, has always been connected to the world of culture, specifically to literature and the visual arts, but also to theatre. She works in cultural management and, since December 2021, has been the co-director of the Fundació Joan Brossa – Centre de les Arts Lliures, a space focused on experimental poetry and projects that straddle the visual arts and live arts. She studied humanities, literary theory and comparative literature, in addition to earning a master’s degree in theatre studies. In 2016 she and Adrià Aubert co-wrote the theatrical adaptation of the Pere Calders novel Ronda naval sota la boira, earning them a nomination for the Catalan Critics’ Award for Best Adaptation. Texts of hers have appeared in fiction anthologies (Grand Hotel, Univers 2022) and group dramatised readings (Estar bé, a reading led by Glòria Balañà at the Sala Beckett, 2017). In September 2022, she published her first novel, Contra la nostàlgia, with Angle Editorial (2 editions). This novel was shortlisted for the Finestres Award for Catalan Fiction in the same year.

Other activities involving the participant:

Tribute to Joan Brossa. Poetry, politics, and nonconformity
Conquering the blank page: The first novel

Sergi Belbel

Invitado de Honor

Sergi Belbel is an author, translator and theatre director. 
His written works include Minim.mal Show (authored with Miquel Górriz, 1986), Elsa Scnheider (1989), Tàlem (1990), Carícies (1991), Després de la pluja (1993), Morir (1994), La sang (1998), El temps de Planck (2000), Forasters (2004), Mòbil (2005), A la Toscana (2007), Fora de joc (2010), Les roses de la vida (2017), Si no t’hagués conegut (2018), Angle mort (2020), co-written with Roc Esquius, Hamlet.01 (2022), Lali Symon (2023) and Hamlet.02 (2024). Most of these pieces have been seen in countries across Europe and America and, in some cases, on other continents.
He has directed plays by Benet i Jornet, Guimerà, Shakespeare, Molière, Racine, Goldoni, Calderón, J.B. Priestley, Mamet, Jardiel and more. Some of his pieces have been adapted to the silver screen by Ventura Pons (Carícies, Morir o no, Forasters) and Agustí Villaronga (Després de la pluja, a film for television). Belbel co-wrote the script for the films Eva, by Kike Maíllo (2011), and Stella Cadente (2014) and Love me not (2018), directed by Lluís Miñarro.
His accolades include the National Catalan Literature Award (1993–95), the Ministry of Culture’s National Dramatic Literature Award (1996), the Government of Catalonia’s National Theatre Award (2000), the Max Award for international reach (2002) and the City of Barcelona Award (2003).
In December 2021, he won the Sant Jordi Award for novels with Morir-ne disset (Proa), his first foray into prose fiction. In 2024, he published his second novel: Acte de fe (Proa).

Other activities involving the participant:

Barcelona opens the curtain!
Barcelona opens the curtain!

Carlota Gurt

Invitado de Honor

Carlota Gurt, born in Barcelona in 1976, has been a translator for more than ten years, and in another life, she worked as a producer for the theatre company La Fura dels Baus and the Festival Temporada Alta. She juggles her real life and her literary life and contributes to various media outlets. Her work includes the short story collection Cavalcarem tota la nit (2019 Mercè Rodoreda Award) and the novel Sola (2020), both of which have been translated into several languages. In 2023, she published the short story collection Biografia del foc.

Other activities involving the participant:

From where one writes
Praise (from Barcelona) for the story
Annual International Storytellers Conference