Merce Rodoreda was born in Barcelona in 1908, at a time when Catalonia was autonomous and its citizens were allowed to speak, write, and study their own language. She published five novels between 1932 and 1937, and then fled to exile in Paris and then Geneva at the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the Catalan culture was brutally suppressed. She did not publish again until 1959. Afterwards, she regularly produced novels and collections of short stories and became a fixture on Catalan best-seller lists. When Franco died, most restrictions on the use of Catalan were lifted, and Rodoreda returned to Barcelona, where she died of cancer in April 1983.
David H. Rosenthal is well-known for his translations from the Catalan. His most recent book is a translation of the 15th century Catalan classic Tirant lo Blanc. He is the translator of Rodoreda's novel The Time of the Doves, as well as Modern Catalan Poetry: An Anthology. He lives in New York City and spends much of the year in Barcelona.
