Núria Añó

Núria Añó
Añó in 2009
Añó in 2009
Born (1973-02-10) 10 February 1973 (age 51)
Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
OccupationWriter, novelist, biographer, essayist
LanguageCatalan, Spanish
Genresocial criticism
Notable worksThe Dead Writer, Lowering Clouds, The Salon of Exiled Artists in California
Website
nuriaanyo.com

Núria Añó (Catalan: [ˈnuɾiə əˈɲo], Spanish: [ˈnuɾja aˈɲo]; born 1973) is a Catalan writer and a translator. Añó has exhibited her work in universities and institutions giving papers on literary creation or authors like Elfriede Jelinek,[1] Patricia Highsmith,[2] Salka Viertel,[3] Franz Werfel,[4] Karen Blixen[5] or Alexandre Dumas, fils,[6] as well as giving talks in libraries and secondary and higher education centres. She is also a member of several international artistic juries.[7]

Work

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Añó was born in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. She started writing tales at a young age and published her first story in 1990. After that, she published in anthology books from abroad, such as the short stories 2066. Beginning the age of correction,[8] about climate change, or Presage,[9] about domestic violence, both translated into English.

Her first novel Els nens de l'Elisa (2006) was third among the finalists for the 24th Ramon Llull Prize[10] for Catalan literature, one of the most relevant literary awards in Catalan language. This novel has a female main character detached from the clichés. Núria Añó draws an antiheroine through a school teacher and shows both the tender and the most sordid side.[11]

The Dead Writer (2008) shows creating a literary work[12] through Anna, a writer, and the world and lives of the surrounding people. It is an "insightful literary artefact"[13] about the process of creation and how literature reflects itself within a literary work. It "suggests images capable of depicting daily scenes that often, life does not let us see."[14] They published the original in Spain in 2008.

Lowering Clouds (2009) is a novel about mature women. Gabriele is a bisexual actress that takes a trip to the city where she spent her adolescence. Her friend Marianne is older and hardly remembers the actress, because she has Alzheimer's disease. Another friend, Silvia, must care for the grandchildren daily. Among others, it has a significant LGBT background. This novel is "a piece of real life, dissected with the razor-sharp scalpel of Añó's writing."[15] They published it in 2009.

La mirada del fill (2012) is a novel about adoption, classic ballet dancers, and generational troubles between mothers and daughters. "Apparently understood facts, that the novel reveals at the right time, give the impression of reading a story written by scales, in which events overlap until they form a general panorama."[16] They published it in 2012.

The Salon of Exiled Artists in California (2020) is a biography on Jewish screenwriter Salka Viertel that "gives always the voice and the word to Salka Viertel."[17] This book is about the Berlin of the 1920s and the transition from silent to spoken film in Hollywood; the rise of Hitler and what it meant for the Jewish condition. Also, the exile of many European artists because of the Second World War, the Cold War and the witch-hunt against communism; an in-depth account[18] of many well-known and famous personalities and their interpersonal relationships. Although Salka Viertel was an important figure in the exile, "very little has been written about her, so Núria Añó's book is a corrective."[19]

They translated her work, which includes novels, short stories and essays, into Spanish, French, English, Italian, German, Polish, Chinese, Latvian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Arabic or Romanian as well.

Style

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International literary journals consider Añó as one of the important contemporary authors in Catalan Literature.[20][21][22]

Her writing style is very ambitious and risky, the author delves into the exploration of the contemporary individual,[23] it focuses on the psychology of her characters, antiheroes avoiding Manichaeism.[24] "The characters are the most important" in her books, "much more than the topic",[25] due to "an introspection, a reflection, not sentimental, but feminine".[26] Although her novels cover a multitude of topics, treat actual and socially relevant problems, injustices and poor communication between people.[27] Frequently, the core of her stories remains unexplained, and Núria Añó asks the reader to discover the "deeper meaning"[28] and to become involved in the events presented.

Awards

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In 1996, she was awarded the 18th City of Almenara Joan Fuster Prize for Fiction. In 2016, she was distinguished by the culture association Nuoren Voiman Liitto in Sysmä, Finland. Later, she won a grant at the Shanghai Writing Program, in Shanghai, China. In 2017, she was distinguished by the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators in Visby, Sweden. Late in the fall, by International Writer's and Translators' Center of Rhodes in Greece. In 2018, she was selected for the residency Kraków UNESCO City of Literature[29] in Poland and she won the fourth international writing award 2018 Shanghai Get-Together. In 2019, she was distinguished by IWTH in Ventspils, Latvia, and in 2020, with the International Writing Program in Beijing, China.

Bibliography

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Novels

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  • Els nens de l'Elisa; Omicron 2006 ISBN 9788496496262
  • L'escriptora morta (The Dead Writer, 2020); Omicron 2008 ISBN 9788496496651
  • Núvols baixos (Lowering Clouds, 2020); Omicron 2009 ISBN 9788492544288
  • La mirada del fill; Abadia 2012 ISBN 9788496847774

Biographies

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  • El salón de los artistas exiliados en California: Salka Viertel acogió en su exilio a actores, intelectuales prominentes y personas anónimas huidas del nazismo (The Salon of Exiled Artists in California, 2020); Smashwords 2020 ISBN 9781658631631

Books translated into English

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Year Title ISBN
2020 The Dead Writer (novel) ISBN 9781071533307 (ebook) ISBN 9781071536209 (paperback)
2020 Lowering Clouds (novel) ISBN 9781071539446 (ebook) ISBN 9781071542330 (paperback)
2020 The Salon of Exiled Artists in California: Salka Viertel took in actors, prominent intellectuals and anonymous people in exile fleeing from Nazism (biography) ISBN 9780463206126 (eBook) ISBN 9798647624079 (paperback) ISBN 9798734626528 (hardcover)

Work translated into other languages

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Novels
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Biography
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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Colloque international 'L'écriture de l'Histoire par les femmes' [International colloquium 'The writing of history by women'], Tunis University, 2012.
  2. ^ Les romancières sentimentales: nouvelles approches, nouvelles perspectives [The sentimental novels: new approaches, new perspectives], L'ull crític 17-18 (University of Lleida, 2014).
  3. ^ Añó, Núria (May 21, 2018). "Salka Viertel: una vida en el exilio" [Salka Viertel: a life in exile]. Letralia, Tierra de Letras (in Spanish). Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  4. ^ Cien años del Genocidio Armenio: Un siglo de silencio [One hundred years of the Armenian Genocide: A century of silence] (Editarx, 2016).
  5. ^ Agapè. De l'amour dans le patrimoine littéraire [Agape. Of love in the literary heritage] (L'Harmattan, 2019).
  6. ^ L'art de l'adaptation: féminité et roman populaire, [The art of adaptation: femininity and popular romance] L'ull crític 19-20 (University of Lleida, 2016).
  7. ^ "Willa Decjusza Núria Añó". Krakow UNESCO City of Literature.
  8. ^ The short story "2066. Beginning the age of correction". Cafebabel, June 19, 2006. (in English)
  9. ^ The short story "Presage". Fall 2013 Issue 3 – Grief, 2013. (in English)
  10. ^ "Deu obres passen a la recta final del Premi Ramon Llull". Vilaweb, January 28, 2004.
  11. ^ "Not, Anton: Review of Els nens de l'Elisa. La Mañana, September 24, 2006, page 63.
  12. ^ Tàrtalo, Guillem: La leridana Núria Añó presenta su nueva novela, 'L'escriptora morta'. La Mañana, March 27, 2008.
  13. ^ "Núria Añó salta barreras idiomáticas con La escritora muerta". Letralia, April 9, 2020.
  14. ^ "Santos Pinheiro, Alexandra: Review La escritora muerta". Resonancias, November 2, 2019.
  15. ^ DD.AA.: Femme et Littérature Populaire. L'ull crític 15-16, Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2012, p. 241.
  16. ^ La mirada del hijo, el desafío narrativo de Núria Añó. Letralia, April 15, 2020.
  17. ^ Santa, Àngels: El salón de los artistas exiliados en California, de Núria Añó. Letralia, May, 7. 2021
  18. ^ Santa, Àngels: El salón de los artistas exiliados en California, de Núria Añó. Letralia, May, 7. 2021
  19. ^ Vickrey, David: Salka Viertel And Greta Garbo. Dialog International, May, 7. 2021
  20. ^ DD.AA.: Femme et Littérature Populaire. L'ull crític 15-16, Edicions de la Universitat de Lleida, 2012, p. 241
  21. ^ magazine Bravo Brazil, 179.
  22. ^ "Encuentro con Núria Añó.". Instituto Cervantes Cracovia. Inspiraciones.
  23. ^ Bakrim, Noury: El viaje real de La escritora muerta, de Núria Añó. Letralia, April, 22. 2020
  24. ^ "Not, A.: Critic review of the book Els nens de l'Elisa, in: Ateneu, La Mañana, September 24, 2006, page 63.
  25. ^ "Sáez, A.: Interview with the author, in: Segre, September 12, 2006.
  26. ^ "Santa, A.: About the book Núvols baixos (Lowering Clouds, 2020), in the Public Library of Lleida: Segre", June 20, 2010.
  27. ^ "Núria Añó Scholarship holder of the Residency". Villa Decius Institute for Culture awards Núria Añó.
  28. ^ "La leridana Núria Añó narra la historia de una actriz en la madurez de su profesión". La Mañana, June 28, 2009.
  29. ^ "Announcing the KUCL residency scholarship recipients". Kraków City of Literature, February 20, 2018.
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