Adrià Pujol

Invitado de Honor

Adrià Pujol i Cruells (Begur, 1974) is an anthropologist, translator and writer. He combines teaching with museography and applied research. He has published essays, memoir and fiction. Among his works, notable titles include the autofiction Barcelona Potholes; the chronicles Seixanta-sis sinofosos (Sixty‑Six Sinophobes); the novels Els llocs on ha dormit Jonàs (The Places Where Jonàs Slept) and Mr. Folch; the essays I SI (especulacions sobre llenguatge i literatura) (WHAT IF: Speculations on Language and Literature), O NO (llegir, escriure, publicar) (OR NOT: Reading, Writing, Publishing) and La carpeta és blava (The Folder Is Blue); the Guia sentimental de l’Empordanet (Sentimental Guide to the Empordanet) and the literary artefact El fill del corrector / Arre, arre, corrector (The Proof‑reader’s Son / Arre, arre, Proof‑reader), co-authored with Rubén Martín Giráldez. He has translated works by Georges Perec, Pierre Michon, Bruno Latour, Raymond Roussel and Louis Calaferte, among others.

Other activities involving the participant:

Learn how to write

Victoria Szpunberg

Invitado de Honor

Victoria Szpunberg is a playwright, director and dramaturgy teacher. She was invited to the Royal Court Theatre International Residency in 2000 with her first play.
Since then, her works have premièred at numerous national and international festivals and theatres. Her plays have been translated into more than ten languages. Alongside her career as a writer, she has partnered with various choreographers, developed dramaturgies, directed and adapted plays and written pieces for radio and sound installations. She has also taken part in theatre and education projects. In 2013, she received the Max Prize for Catalan Playwriting. In 2019, she was playwright-in-residence at Sala Beckett with the play Amor mundi (Festival Grec 2019) and won the VII SGAE Laboratory Fellowship to write Tu hija (Your Daughter). In 2022, she premièred the opera libretto La gata perduda (The Lost Cat) (Gran Teatro del Liceo, winner of the Serra d’Or Prize, Max Prize, Teatre Barcelona Prize, among others), and that same year also premièred El peso de un cuerpo (The Weight of a Body) (TNC and CDN). In 2023, she premièred her play Mal de coraçon (Heartache) (Cia Solitària, TNC), and in 2024 L’imperatiu categòric (The Categorical Imperative) (Teatre Lliure 2024–2025), a work that received the City of Barcelona Prize, the Butaca Prize, the Time Out Award for Best Creator of the Year and the Critics’ Prize for Best Text, among others. This year she has premièred Vulcano (Volcano) (CDN) and La tercera fuga (The Third Escape) (Sala Gran, TNC).

Other activities involving the participant:

Barcelona opens the curtain!
Presentation of Babelia

Eduard Olesti

Invitado de Honor

Eduard Olesti was born in 1995 in Barcelona. He has published the poetry collections Sarcop and Un cowboy crepuscular (A Crepuscular Cowboy). He has worked in theatre – as a playwright and director – and in other areas of the arts and culture. Gossos dempeus (Dogs Standing) is his first novel.

Other activities involving the participant:

Bolaño's transatlantic heritage

Josep Maria Miró

Invitado de Honor

Author of The Monster (2023, XXXII Jardiel Poncela Prize / XVIII Quim Masó Prize), Me, Trans (2023, VII Teatre Barcelona Prize – Local Musical Show), Remains of the Glowing Night (2021), La Majordoma (The Lady Butler) (2020), The Nicest Body Ever Seen Around These Parts (2020, National Prize for Dramatic Literature 2022 / XLV Born Prize / XXV Critics’ Prize), The White Room (2020), Temps salvatge (Wild Times) (2017, XXII Max Prize for Authorship), Olvidémonos de ser turistas (Let’s Forget about Being Tourists) (2017), Cúbit (Ulna) (2016), La travessia (The Passage) (2015, Frederic Roda Prize – XLV Night of Catalan Literature), Obac (Shady) (2014), Estripar la terra (Tearing Up the Earth) (2013,
Autor Exprés Prize), Fum (Smoke) (2012), Nerium Park (2012, Jaume Vidal i Alcover Prize / VI Quim Masó Prize), El principi d’Arquimedes (Archimedes’ Principle) (2011, XXXVI Born Prize), Gang Bang (2010, Project T6 Teatre Nacional de Catalunya), La dona que perdia tots els avions (The Woman Who Always Missed Her Flight) (2009, XXXIV Born Prize 2009) and stage adaptations such as Sicalíptiques (2024), Reis del món (Kings of the World) (2023), Els homes i els dies (The Men and the Days) (2022), L’amic retrobat (The Recovered Friend) (2019), Neus Català (2015), Esperança dinamita (Dynamite Hope) (2015) and Com si entrés en una pàtria (As If I Entered a Homeland) (2010). His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has done over one hundred premières worldwide. He is currently working on the final monologue in the Tríptic de l’epifania (Triptych of the Epiphany), a new original text for the 2026–2027 season, and an adaptation of Eloy Moreno’s novel Invisible for the company La Joven. Next year will see the first English-language première of one of his plays off-Broadway in New York.

Other activities involving the participant:

Barcelona opens the curtain!

Álvaro Colomer

Invitado de Honor

Writer and journalist. He is the author of a trilogy on the death of the city – La calle de los suicidios (Suicide Street) (Círculo de Lectores, 2000), Mimodrama de una ciudad muerta (Mimodrama of a Dead City) (Siruela, 2004) and Los bosques de Upsala (The Forests of Uppsala) (Alfaguara, 2009) – as well as Aunque caminen por el valle de la muerte (Even Though They Walk Through the Valley of Death) (Random House, 2017), a novel based on real events which reconstructs the Battle of Najaf (Iraq). He has also published the non-fiction works Se alquila una mujer (Woman for Hire) (MR, 2002) and Guardianes de la memoria (Guardians of Memory) (MR, 2008; Fórcola, 2020), a travel book that earned him the International Award for Excellence in Journalism. He is also the author of books for children and young adults.
After three decades contributing to a range of media outlets, he is now editorial coordinator at Zenda magazine, a regular contributor to the ‘Cultura/s’ supplement (La Vanguardia) and a frequent guest on the radio programme A vivir (Cadena Ser). He also teaches in the Master’s in Publishing at the UPF School of Management, among other roles.
 

Other activities involving the participant:

Writing to acknowledge 50 years of loyalty
Learn how to write
Sustainable narratives
The seduction of historical figures
Expanded noir literature
Tribute to Ana María Matute. Grand literature
(Literally) killers in Barcelona
From where one writes
Literary agencies in Barcelona

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:

Of families, happy and unhappy in their own way

Victoria Szpunberg

Invitado de Honor

Victoria Szpunberg is a playwright, director and dramaturgy teacher. She was invited to the Royal Court Theatre International Residency in 2000 with her first play.
Since then, her works have premièred at numerous national and international festivals and theatres. Her plays have been translated into more than ten languages. Alongside her career as a writer, she has partnered with various choreographers, developed dramaturgies, directed and adapted plays and written pieces for radio and sound installations. She has also taken part in theatre and education projects. In 2013, she received the Max Prize for Catalan Playwriting. In 2019, she was playwright-in-residence at Sala Beckett with the play Amor mundi (Festival Grec 2019) and won the VII SGAE Laboratory Fellowship to write Tu hija (Your Daughter). In 2022, she premièred the opera libretto La gata perduda (The Lost Cat) (Gran Teatro del Liceo, winner of the Serra d’Or Prize, Max Prize, Teatre Barcelona Prize, among others), and that same year also premièred El peso de un cuerpo (The Weight of a Body) (TNC and CDN). In 2023, she premièred her play Mal de coraçon (Heartache) (Cia Solitària, TNC), and in 2024 L’imperatiu categòric (The Categorical Imperative) (Teatre Lliure 2024–2025), a work that received the City of Barcelona Prize, the Butaca Prize, the Time Out Award for Best Creator of the Year and the Critics’ Prize for Best Text, among others. This year she has premièred Vulcano (Volcano) (CDN) and La tercera fuga (The Third Escape) (Sala Gran, TNC).

Other activities involving the participant:

Barcelona today: a transformation
Presentation of Babelia

Marta Buchaca

Invitado de Honor

Playwright, director and screenwriter. Her most recent works include Kramig (Espai Texas, 2025), Quant de temps em queda? (Teatre Goya, 2022), Rita (La Villarroel, 2022; Centre Cultural Fernán Gómez, 2021, and Sala Beckett, 2019), Playoff, which premièred in February 2018 at the Conde Duque Theatre in Madrid with La Joven Compañía, and Només una vegada, which premièred at the Festival Grec 2018 and the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya.
 Some of her other noteworthy plays are Les nenes no haurien de jugar a futbol (Festival Grec and Versus Teatre, 2009, and Teatros del Canal, 2014), Losers (La Villarroel, 2014, and Teatro Bellas Artes, 2015) and Plastilina (Sala Beckett, 2009). Her family plays, meanwhile, include an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and La nit dels malsons, for the Auditori de Barcelona’s Cantània project. 
She has received a host of literary awards, most notably the Max Award for best writing in Catalan and the City of Alcoy Award.
Her screenplays include Fenómenas and El juego de las llaves, as well as the adaptations of her plays Només una vegada, Litus and Les nenes no haurien de jugar a futbol. 

She has also published a novel, Sis mesos d’hivern (Ed. Navona).

Other activities involving the participant:

Writing about love (and heartbreak)

Josep Maria Miró

Invitado de Honor

Author of The Monster (2023, XXXII Jardiel Poncela Prize / XVIII Quim Masó Prize), Me, Trans (2023, VII Teatre Barcelona Prize – Local Musical Show), Remains of the Glowing Night (2021), La Majordoma (The Lady Butler) (2020), The Nicest Body Ever Seen Around These Parts (2020, National Prize for Dramatic Literature 2022 / XLV Born Prize / XXV Critics’ Prize), The White Room (2020), Temps salvatge (Wild Times) (2017, XXII Max Prize for Authorship), Olvidémonos de ser turistas (Let’s Forget about Being Tourists) (2017), Cúbit (Ulna) (2016), La travessia (The Passage) (2015, Frederic Roda Prize – XLV Night of Catalan Literature), Obac (Shady) (2014), Estripar la terra (Tearing Up the Earth) (2013,
Autor Exprés Prize), Fum (Smoke) (2012), Nerium Park (2012, Jaume Vidal i Alcover Prize / VI Quim Masó Prize), El principi d’Arquimedes (Archimedes’ Principle) (2011, XXXVI Born Prize), Gang Bang (2010, Project T6 Teatre Nacional de Catalunya), La dona que perdia tots els avions (The Woman Who Always Missed Her Flight) (2009, XXXIV Born Prize 2009) and stage adaptations such as Sicalíptiques (2024), Reis del món (Kings of the World) (2023), Els homes i els dies (The Men and the Days) (2022), L’amic retrobat (The Recovered Friend) (2019), Neus Català (2015), Esperança dinamita (Dynamite Hope) (2015) and Com si entrés en una pàtria (As If I Entered a Homeland) (2010). His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has done over one hundred premières worldwide. He is currently working on the final monologue in the Tríptic de l’epifania (Triptych of the Epiphany), a new original text for the 2026–2027 season, and an adaptation of Eloy Moreno’s novel Invisible for the company La Joven. Next year will see the first English-language première of one of his plays off-Broadway in New York.

Other activities involving the participant:

Barcelona today: a transformation

Victoria Szpunberg

Invitado de Honor

Victoria Szpunberg is a playwright, director and dramaturgy teacher. She was invited to the Royal Court Theatre International Residency in 2000 with her first play.
Since then, her works have premièred at numerous national and international festivals and theatres. Her plays have been translated into more than ten languages. Alongside her career as a writer, she has partnered with various choreographers, developed dramaturgies, directed and adapted plays and written pieces for radio and sound installations. She has also taken part in theatre and education projects. In 2013, she received the Max Prize for Catalan Playwriting. In 2019, she was playwright-in-residence at Sala Beckett with the play Amor mundi (Festival Grec 2019) and won the VII SGAE Laboratory Fellowship to write Tu hija (Your Daughter). In 2022, she premièred the opera libretto La gata perduda (The Lost Cat) (Gran Teatro del Liceo, winner of the Serra d’Or Prize, Max Prize, Teatre Barcelona Prize, among others), and that same year also premièred El peso de un cuerpo (The Weight of a Body) (TNC and CDN). In 2023, she premièred her play Mal de coraçon (Heartache) (Cia Solitària, TNC), and in 2024 L’imperatiu categòric (The Categorical Imperative) (Teatre Lliure 2024–2025), a work that received the City of Barcelona Prize, the Butaca Prize, the Time Out Award for Best Creator of the Year and the Critics’ Prize for Best Text, among others. This year she has premièred Vulcano (Volcano) (CDN) and La tercera fuga (The Third Escape) (Sala Gran, TNC).

Other activities involving the participant:

Barcelona today: a transformation
Barcelona opens the curtain!

Jordi Soler

Jordi Soler was born in 1963 in La Portuguesa, Veracruz, Mexico. He is the author of two poetry collections and a dozen narrative works, which have been translated into several languages. He now lives in Barcelona, the city his family once fled after the Spanish Civil War. He is a knight of the Irish Order of the Finnegans. His works include Bocafloja (Loose Mouth), La mujer que tenía los pies feos (The Woman Who Had Ugly Feet), Los rojos de ultramar (The Reds from Overseas), La última hora del último día (The Last Hour of the Last Day), Diles que son cadáveres (Tell Them They’re Corpses), La fiesta del oso (The Bear’s Festival), Ese príncipe que fui (The Prince I Was), El cuerpo eléctrico (The Electric Body), Usos rudimentarios de la selva (Rudimentary Uses of the Jungle), Los hijos del volcán (The Sons of the Volcano), En el reino del toro sagrado (In the Realm of the Sacred Bull) and Y uno se cree (And One Believes).

Paulina Flores

Paulina Flores (Santiago, Chile, 1988) es licenciada en Literatura Hispánica por la Universidad de Chile y tiene un máster en Escritura Creativa por la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona. Su primer libro, un conjunto de nueve relatos publicados bajo el título Qué vergüenza (Hueders, Santiago, 2015; Seix Barral, Barcelona, 2016), fue traducido a múltiples idiomas y seleccionado como uno de los diez mejores libros por El País. La obra obtuvo el Premio Roberto Bolaño, el Premio del Círculo de Críticos, el Premio Municipal de Literatura y en 2019 el Bauer Giovanni, en Venecia.

Es autora también de la novela Isla Decepción (Seix Barral, 2021), con la que obtuvo el Premio LINC al mejor libro del año en la categoría de ficción, y fue traducida al inglés, japonés y holandés, entre otros idiomas. Ha sido profesora y conductora del podcast Confieso que he leído; realiza charlas y talleres sobre procesos creativos de escritura, y colabora como columnista en El País.

Other activities involving the participant:

Benvinguts: arriving in Barcelona
Bolaño's transatlantic heritage