Bel Olid


Bel Olid Báez is a Catalan writer, translator, and teacher of language, literature, translation, and creative writing. They have received several literary prizes, among them the 2010. From 2015 to 2022, they were the president of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana. As of 2024, they are an Assistant Instructional Professor in Catalan and Spanish at the University of Chicago.
𝕏 BelOlid

Biography

Born in Mataró, the child of immigrants from another region of Spain, Bel Olid earned a licentiate in Translation and Interpreting from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1999, and has since dedicated themself to the translation of books and films. They have worked as a language and literature teacher since 2005. In 2010, they obtained a master's degree in Language and Literature Didactics. They have translated works into Catalan from English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. They are a member of the Gretel children's and youth literature research group at the UAB.
In 2008, Olid published the storybook Estela, grita muy fuerte to help prevent child abuse, released by the Fineo publishing house for the Rana Association of the Balearic Islands. It received the QWERTY Award for best children's book.
In 2010, they published the essay Les heroïnes contraataquen: models literaris contra l'universal masculí, which received the Rovelló Award.
In 2011, Olid published their first novel, Una terra solitària, in which they portray Andalusian immigration in Catalonia together with cultural, social, and sexual identity in the background, and in which they also introduce the problem of sexual abuse. In 2012 they published La mala reputació, awarded with the 2013 Roc Boronat de Narrativa.
In October 2014, together with the writers Josep Maria Espinàs and Albert Sánchez Piñol, they presented the Writers' Manifesto for Independence, signed by more than 300 writers in favor of the independence of Catalonia.
In 2013, Olid was elected president of the, and in March 2015 they were elected President of the Association of Writers in Catalan, replacing.
They contribute to various Catalan media outlets, including the newspaper Ara and the cultural magazines ' and '.
For the Catalan autonomous elections of 21 December 2017, Bel Olid participated in the lists of the leftist independence coalition Popular Unity Candidacy for Barcelona.

Personal life

Olid is a non-binary person and advocates for the use of gender-neutral language in Catalan. Olid uses they/them pronouns in English and elli in Catalan.

Works

Books

¡Estela, grita muy fuerte!, Editorial Fineo, Les Heroïnes contraataquen, Una terra solitària, La mala reputació, Vents més salvatges, Planeta Group, Vides aturades, Ara Llibres, Feminisme de butxaca, Garbancito, Combel Edit, Follem?, Bridge, A contrapelo, Capitán Swing,

Translations

English to Catalan

  • 2002: Joc de noms by Theresa Breslin
  • 2005: Casa meva by
  • 2005: Al llit! A la banyera! by Kenny Rettore
  • 2005: Bona nit, rateta by Dugald Steer
  • 2005: T'estimo, rateta by Dugald Steer
  • 2006: Misión Silverfin by Charles Higson
  • 2006: Nit de fantasmes by Chris Mould
  • 2006: Música experimental: de John Cage en endavant by Michael Nyman
  • 2006: Les estrelles del futbol by Steve Smallman
  • 2007: El carreró de la por by Chris Mould
  • 2007: Ni pensar-hi, Drac!: titelles de dit by Annie Kubler
  • 2009: Un gorrió a la farina del forner by Leroy Cardwell
  • 2009: Feminisme i història de l'art by Linda Nochlin
  • 2009: L'angus, pintallavis i morrejades by Louise Rennison
  • 2012: Coco i Piu by Alexis Deacon
  • 2012: L'home de la lluna by William Joyce
  • 2013: Anem a caçar un ós by Michael Rosen
  • 2013: "El gegant egoista" by Oscar Wilde

English to Spanish

  • 2001: Así sea by Isobel Bird
  • 2001: Criminales by Margot Livesey
  • 2003: ¿Qué ve, del derecho y del revés? by Walter Wick
  • 2005: Gregor La profecía del gris by Suzane Collins
  • 2005: La lavadora de Lola by Anna McQuinn
  • 2006: Hasta luego, cocodrilo! by Annie Kubler
  • 2006: Música experimental: de John Cage en adelante by Michael Nyman
  • 2006: Los asnos del fútbol by Steve Smallman
  • 2007: Ni se te ocurra, dragón!: marionetas de dedo by Annie Kubler
  • 2008: ¿Qué hora se, Lobo? by Annie Kubler

Spanish to Catalan

Catalan to Spanish

French to Catalan

  • 2003: Dalí íntim: dibuixos, apunts i paraules entre contemporanis
  • 2009: Coses que passen by Grégoire Bouillier

French to Spanish

  • 2004: Suspiro by Ananda Devi
  • 2010: Larousse del bricolaje by Nuria Lucena Cayuela
  • 2013: Balcones y terrazas
  • 2013: ''Rosas''

Italian to Catalan

  • 2013: Romanticidi by Carolina Cutolo

Italian to Spanish

  • 2013: Romanticidio by Carolina Cutolo

Literary awards

  • 2009: QWERTY Award from betevé for Best Children's Book for Estela, grita muy fuerte
  • 2010: for Una terra solitària
  • 2011: Rovelló Award for Les heroïnes contraataquen: models literaris contra l'universal masculí
  • 2012: Roc Boronat Award for ''Celobert amb papallones''