Núria Añó (1973) is a Catalan/Spanish novelist and biographer. Her first novel "Els nens de l’Elisa" was third among the finalists for the 24th Ramon Llull Prize and was published in 2006. "L’escriptora morta" [The Dead Writer, 2020], in 2008; "Núvols baixos" [Lowering Clouds, 2020], in 2009, and "La mirada del fill", in 2012. Her most recent work "El salón de los artistas exiliados en California" [The Salon of Exiled Artists in California] (2020) is a biography of screenwriter Salka Viertel, a Jewish salonnière and well-known in Hollywood in the thirties as a specialist on Greta Garbo scripts.
Some of her novels, short stories and articles are translated into Spanish, French, English, Italian, German, Polish, Chinese, Latvian, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek and Arabic.
Añó’s writing focus on the characters’ psychology, most of them antiheroes. The characters in her books are the most important due to an introspection, a reflection, not sentimental, but feminine. Her novels cover a multitude of topics, treat actual and socially relevant problems such as injustices or poor communication between people. Frequently, the core of her stories remains unexplained. Añó asks the reader to discover the deeper meaning and to become involved in the events presented.
Literary Prizes/ Awards:
2023. Awarded at International Writers’ and Translators’ House in Latvia.
2020. Awarded at International Writing Program in China.
2019. Awarded at International Writers’ and Translators’ House in Latvia.
2018. Fourth prize of the 5th Shanghai Get-together Writing Contest.
2018. Selected for a literary residence in Krakow UNESCO City of Literature, Poland.
2017. Awarded at the International Writers’ and Translators’ Center of Rhodes in Greece.
2017. Awarded at the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators in Sweden.
2016. Awarded at the Shanghai Writing Program, hosted by the Shanghai Writer’s Association.
2016. Awarded by the Culture Association Nuoren Voiman Liitto to be a resident at Villa Sarkia in Finland.
2004. Third among the finalists for the 24th Ramon Llull Prize for Catalan Literature.
1997. Finalist for the 8th Mercè Rodoreda Prize for Short Stories.
1996. Awarded the 18th Joan Fuster Prize for Fiction.