Anna Aguilar-Amat facts for kids

Anna Aguilar-Amat (born January 31, 1962) is a famous Catalan poet, translator, and university professor from Barcelona, Spain. She is an expert in how computers understand language, a field known as Computational Linguistics.

Anna writes her poems only in the Catalan language. However, she also writes essays and studies in both Catalan and Spanish. She has a PhD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where she now teaches.

She has published five books of poetry and has won many awards. Her poems are so popular that they have been translated into many languages, including English, French, German, and Arabic. She was even featured in a 2008 book called New European Poets.

A Life in Poetry

Anna Aguilar-Amat earned her PhD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Today, she teaches students there about Terminology (the study of special words) and Computational Linguistics.

Even though she won writing awards as a student, she became truly famous as a poet after winning three of Catalonia's most important poetry prizes in just two years.

• 2000: She won the 'Jocs Florals' award in Barcelona for her first published book, Petrolier (which means Oil Tanker).
• 2000: She also won the ‘Carles Riba Award’ for her book Trànsit entre dos vols (Transit between Two Flights).
• 2001: The next year, she won the ‘Màrius Torres Award’ for Música i escorbut (Music and Scurvy).

Together with another well-known Catalan poet, Francesc Parcerisas, she wrote a poetry book called Coses Petites : poemes a quatre mans (Little Things: Poems by Two Hands). She also wrote a book of essays in Spanish called El placer de la lectura (The Pleasure of Reading).

Her fourth book of poems, Jocs de l'oca (The Goose Games), is designed like the famous board game, the Game of the Goose. It has 63 poems, just like the 63 squares on the game board, so you can "play" the book as you read it.

Sharing Poetry with the World

Anna's poems are included in many collections of Catalan poetry. Her work has been translated into more than ten languages, allowing people all over the world to enjoy it. She is also part of the Scottish Poetry Library, which connects poets across Europe.

Since 2003, she has been the president of QUARKpoesia. This is a group at her university that encourages people to read and translate poetry, especially from languages that are not as well-known.

She also travels to many places to read her poetry out loud. She has performed at big festivals in Catalonia and has been invited to share her work in countries like Argentina, Ukraine, Scotland, and the United States. In 2007, she was honored at the Festa de la Poesia (Poetry Festival) in Sitges for her important contributions to Catalan poetry.

Her poetry is known for feeling very real and honest. She often mixes storytelling with beautiful, creative descriptions.

Main Works

Poetry Books

• Petrolier (Oil Tanker), 2003. This book won a "Jocs Florals" award in Barcelona in 2000.
• Trànsit entre dos vols (Transit between Two Flights), 2001. This book won the Carles Riba Award in 2000.
• Música i escorbut (Music and Scurvy), 2002. This book won the Màrius Torres Award in 2001. An English version, Music and Scurvy, was published in 2005 (ISBN: 978-1905207022).
• Coses Petites : poemes a quatre mans (Little Things: Poems by Two Hands), 2002. Written with Francesc Parcerisas.
• Jocs de l'oca (The Goose Games), 2006.
• Càrrega de color (Color Load), 2011.

Featured in Poetry Collections

Anna Aguilar-Amat's poems have appeared in many collections, including:

• Sol de sal. La nueva poesía catalana (Sun of Salt: New Catalan Poetry), 2001.
• The EmLit Project: European minority literatures in translation, 2003 (ISBN: 1902316363).
• Light off water : XXV Catalan Poems 1978-2002, 2007 (ISBN: 1857549163).
• New European Poets, 2008. This major collection features poets from all over Europe (ISBN: 978-1-55597-492-3).
• Poetàrium: Contemporary Catalan Poetry, 2009. A collection of 34 modern Catalan poets.

Essays

• El placer de la lectura (The Pleasure of Reading), 2004. A collection of essays written in Spanish.

See also

In Spanish: Anna Aguilar-Amat para niños