Núria Añó was born in Lleida, North East Spain, in 1973. She studied Catalan Philology and German Language. She is a writer, a translator and a regular speaker at conferences and symposia, where she gives papers on literary creation, films, cities or authors like Elfriede Jelinek, Patricia Highsmith, Salka Viertel, Alexandre Dumas, Greta Garbo, Franz Werfel or Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) at University of Lleida (UdL), Tunis University, University of Jaén (UJA), International University of Andalucía (UNIA), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC-Madrid), Sysmän Kirjasto Library in Finland, Shanghai Writers' Association (SWA), Fudan University in China, East China Normal University, Sinan Mansion, Instituto Cervantes in Shanghai, Conrad Festival in Poland, Massolit Books, Baza or Instituto Cervantes in Krakow, also in libraries, secondary schools or in higher education. She also acts as a juror for international competitions.
She published her first story in 1990. Some of her short stories have been published in books such as Dones i literatura a Lleida (City Council of Lleida, 1997); VIII Concurs de Narrativa Literària Mercè Rodoreda (1997); Estrenes (University of Lleida, 2005); Escata de drac, no. 8 (City Council of Lleida, 2012); Des lettres et des femmes... La femme face aux défis de l'histoire (Peter Lang, 2013); Fábula, no. 35 (University of La Rioja, 2013); Issue 3. Grief, When Women Waken (2014); Resonancias, no. 127 (2014); Les romancières sentimentales: nouvelles approches, nouvelles perspectives, L'ull crític 17-18 (University of Lleida, 2014); Letralia, Year XXI (2016); Cien años del Genocidio Armenio: Un siglo de silencio (Editarx, 2016); Revista Narrativas, no. 43 (2016); L'art de l'adaptation: féminité et roman populaire (University of Lleida, 2016); April Issue, Nebula (2017); Cine y Literatura (Editorial Letralia, 2017); The Mother Tongue in a Foreign Land (Shanghai Writers' Association, 2017); Domuzime, no. 4 (2017); Revista Literaria Visor, no. 12 (2018); Exilios y otros desarraigos (Editorial Letralia, 2018); China Life magazine, no. 151 (2018); Shanghai Get-Together (2018); Mémoires et écrits de femmes: La création féminine revisitée (L'Harmattan, 2019); Agapè. De l'amour dans le patrimoine littéraire (L'Harmattan, 2019) and in Diccionari literari (Vibop, 2020).
Her first novel published, Els nens de l'Elisa ([Elisa's Children] Omicron, 2006), was third among the finalists for the 24th Ramon Llull Prize for Catalan Literature. L'escriptora morta ([The Dead Writer, 2020] Omicron) was published in 2008; Núvols baixos ([Lowering Clouds, 2020] Omicron), in 2009; La mirada del fill ([The Son's Gaze] Abadia), in 2012 and the biography on Jewish scriptwriter Salka Viertel El salón de los artistas exiliados en California, [The Salon of Exiled Artists in California] in 2020. NOVELS TRANSLATED: Some of her novels such as L'escriptora morta are published into other languages as The Dead Writer in English; La escritora muerta in Spanish; La scrittrice morta in Italian; A escritora morta in Portuguese; in French L'écrivaine morte; in Dutch De dode schrijfster; in German Die tote Schriftstellerin and in Greek I nekri singrapheas.The novel Núvols baixos about cinema, Alzheimer and LGBT is published in English as Lowering Clouds; in Italian as Nuvole basse; in Portuguese as Nuvens baixas; in German as Tiefe Wolken; in French as Nuages bas; in Greek as Hamila sinefa. Also La mirada del fill is published in Portuguese as O Olhar do Filho; Le regard du fils in French; Der Blick des Sohnes in German; Lo sguardo del figlio in Italian; To vlemma tou yiou in Greek, De blik van de zoon in Dutch, as well as La mirada del hijo in Spanish.
Her short story 2066. Comença l'etapa de correcció [2066. Beginning the age of correction, 2006] was published on the European magazine Cafébabel and translated into Spanish, French, English, Italian, German, Polish and Latvian. Presage is also translated into English and published in 2014 in the American literary journal When Women Waken. The essay "The mother Tongue in foreign Lands" was published into English and Chinese in Wenhui Daily, a large-scale newspaper of China.
Her writing focus on the characters' psychology, generally antiheroes. The characters are the most important in her books, much more than the topic, 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 and 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.
She was awarded the 18th City of Almenara Joan Fuster Prize for Fiction. Fourth prize of the 5th Shanghai Get-together Writing Contest, organized by Shanghai Peoples' Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration, Shanghai Library and Shanghai Daily. In 2016 she was awarded to be a writer in residence by the culture association Nuoren Voiman Liitto at Villa Sarkia in Finland and at the Shanghai Writing Program, hosted by the Shanghai Writers' Association. In 2017 she is awarded by the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators to be a writer in residence in Sweden and distinguished at International Writer's and Translators' Center of Rhodes in Greece. In 2018 she is awarded with the residency Krakow UNESCO City of Literature in Poland. In 2019 she is distinguished at IWTH in Latvia and in 2020 she is selected at IWP in China.
Literary Prizes/ Awards:
2020. Awarded at International Writing Program in China.
2019. Awarded at International Writer's and Translators' House in Latvia.
2018. Fourth prize of the 5th Shanghai Get-together Writing Contest.
2018. Awarded at Krakow UNESCO City of Literature in Poland.
2017. Awarded at International Writer's and Translators' Center of Rhodes in Greece.
2017. Awarded at Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators in Sweden.
2016. Awarded at Shanghai Writing Program.
2016. Distinguished by Nouren Voiman Liitto 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 Catalan Short Stories of Molins de Rei.
1996. 18th City of Almenara Joan Fuster for Fiction.
Quotes of her work translated and published into English, French, English, Italian, German, Polish and Latvian:
"She could just pack up and leave, but she does not visualize what's beyond ahead." (Presage)
Some of her articles and essays translated and published into French:
AÑÓ, Núria (2014). "Carol: Claire Morgan versus Patricia Highsmith". In: Santa, Àngels (Ed.), Les romancières sentimentales: nouvelles approches, nouvelles perspectives, L'ull crític 17-18. Lleida: Universitat de Lleida, p. 267-280.
AÑÓ, Núria (2013). "'Encre aux doigts". In: Santa, Àngels (Ed.), Des lettres et des femmes... La femme face aux défis de l'histoire. Bern: Peter Lang, p. 407-416.
Some of her essays translated and published into English and Chinese:
AÑÓ, Núria (2016). "The Mother Tongue in Foreign Lands". In: Wenhui Daily.
AÑÓ, Núria (2017). "A Catalyst City for Creativity". In: The Mother Tongue in a Foreign Land. Shanghai: Shanghai Writers' Association.
AÑÓ, Núria (2018). In: China Life magazine, no. 151: China Life.
AÑÓ, Núria (2018). In: The Fifth Shanghai Get-Together Writing Contest: Shanghai Library.
