The authors are pre-selected through an open call launched every year by the Institut Ramon Llull, while the final selection is done by the Art Omi's artistic committee. The long list of Catalan writers in residence at Art Omi over the years includes Gemma Gorga, Francesc Serés, Marc Pastor, Anna Ballbona, Albert Forns, Sebastià Alzamora, Marina Espasa, Anna Aguilar-Amat, Mònica Batet, Marta Carnicero, Sebastià Portell, Martí Domínguez, Núria Perpinyà, Irene Solà, Monika Zgustova, Jordi Cabré, and Max Besora.
Pol Guasch, Art Omi Writer In Residence, September 2023
Pol Guasch (Tarragona, 1997) has a Master's Degree in Contemporary Literature, Culture, and Theory from King's College London and is currently researching his doctoral thesis on love and poetics at the Universitat de Barcelona. He has completed the MACBA Independent Studies Program and taught literature and cultural criticism at UB. He is currently part of the cultural production company La Sullivan. He’s a regular contributor to multiple media outlets including RAC1, Cadena SER, and Diari Ara. He’s the author of the poetry collections Tanta grana (2018 Francesc Garriga Prize) and La part del foc (2020 López-Picó Prize) and has participated in international poetry readings from South Africa to Switzerland and Germany. His writing scholarships and residences include the 2020 Beques Premis Ciutat de Barcelona and the Santa Maddalena Foundation. His debut novel Napalm al cor, winner of the 2021 Anagrama Llibres Novel Prize has been translated into Spanish, English, French, Italian, and German, and is also being adapted for theatre and film. Guasch has also been awarded 42nd Revelation Award in Catalan for Napalm al cor, and the Eñe Festival Talent Award in Madrid.
Arià Paco, Art Omi Writer In Residence, October 2023
Arià Paco (Igualada, 1993) has a degree in Philosophy and a master's degree in Analytical Philosophy from the UB. He is currently working on his PhD in Political Philosophy at the University of Arizona. He has a degree in public speaking from Pompeu Fabra University and has written articles in Núvol and Anoia Diari. He has published the novel Mentir a les mosques (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2020), which won the Valldaura-Memorial Pere Calders Prize, published in 2022 by the Publication Service of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. It is the story of a constant ethical conflict that takes place in just two days, thus presenting philosophical problems such as the fragility of non-EU citizens, the perversions of electoralism, the pornography of grief in the social networks and, above all, lies and uncertainty. In 2022 he has published with Amsterdam Llibres the novel Covarda, vella, tan salvatge, winner of the Roc Boronat Prize. It is a portrait of a generation of young people marked by uprooting and the fragility of ambitions. Parallel to his career as a writer, he is also a dubbing actor for the ECAD, and lately he works as an audiobook narrator.
