Jesús Moncada


Jesús Moncada i Estruga was a narrator and translator. His work is a re-creation, somewhere between realism and fantasy, of the mythical past of the old town of Mequinenza -now submerged beneath the waters of the river Ebro-.
Considered one of the most important Catalan authors of his time, he received various prizes for his work, among them the Premio Ciutat de Barcelona and the Premio Nacional de la Crítica in 1989 for Camí de sirga and the Creu de Sant Jordi, awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2001. In 2004—a few months before his death—he received the Premio de las Letras Aragonesas.
Moncada is one of the most translated authors of Catalan literature. Camí de sirga has been translated into fifteen languages, among them Japanese and Vietnamese. He also translated into Catalan many Spanish, French, and English works of authors such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Alexandre Dumas, père, Jules Verne, and Boris Vian.
On 9 July 2005 he returned to Mequinenza, where he was awarded the title of "favorite son." He died on 13 June 2005 from cancer. His ashes were scattered in the noble house of old Mequinenza, now inundated by the Ribarroja reservoir, where he was born and where his works are set, under the watchful eye of his mother, his siblings -Rosa Mari and Albert-, his brother-in-law and nephew, and the neighbors of Mequinenza.

Novels

Camí de sirga La galeria de les estàtues
  • ''Estremida memòria''

Short stories

Històries de la mà esquerra i altres narracions El cafè de la granota Calaveres atònites Riada Contes
  • ''Cabòries estivals i altres proses volanderes''

Quotes about their work


"Moncada blends the real and the fantastic in the manner of Gabriel García Márquez, and his episodic style may remind some readers of the Colombian novelist's treatment of events in the town of Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Such a comparison is not mere reviewers' hyperbole: this is a rich, humorous and moving novel, sensitively translated into English, which should herald a glittering future for its author."

Legacy

The personal archive of Jesús Moncada was entrusted to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona by his sister, Rosa Maria Moncada. It is now housed in the university’s Humanities Library, thanks to the support of the Departments of Catalan Philology and of Translation and Interpreting. The donation was coordinated by Montserrat Bacardí and Francesc Foguet, lecturers at the UAB, along with Hèctor Moret, a family friend and scholar of Moncada’s work.
The Jesús Moncada Archive comprises a selection of the writer’s personal and professional materials. It includes drafts of literary works, photographs, drawings, correspondence, and various personal and professional documents.