Pius Alibek Hermez (Ainkawa, IraqiKurdistan, 1955) is an Iraqi philologist and restaurateur of Assyrian ethnicity. He studied English philology in Baghdad, and continued his studies afterwards in London. He has focused his career on comparative historical linguistics and the origin and evolution of languages. He arrived in Barcelona in 1981.
He has dedicated himself to the teaching of languages, giving classes in schools and in the university; to translations for El Periódico de Catalunya; and also to the program for the European Community program Manumed, which is dedicated to safeguarding the written heritage of the eastern Mediterranean. He is fluent in Aramaic, English, Arabic, Kurdish, Catalan, and Spanish.
Since 1997 he has operated the restaurant Mesopotamia, specializing in Iraqi cuisine, on Carrer de Verdi street in the Gracia neighborhood of Barcelona, Spain. He collaborates in the program "The Travelers of the Grand Anaconda" (Catalan: "Els Viatgers de la Gran Anaconda") of Catalunya Ràdio, where he hosts the segment "Travelling Words" (Catalan: "Paraules Viatgeres"), which explores how words were born and how they have evolved, especially words of Eastern provenance.
During the anti-war protests of 2003 he became a familiar figure in the struggle for peace. In 2004 he received the Medal of Honor of Barcelona (Catalan: Medalla d'Honor de Barcelona). He translated "The Yacoubian Building" by Egyptian author Alaa Al-Aswany into Catalan, and is the author of the book "Nomad Roots", published in Catalan by La Campana (Barcelona, 2010).
Catalan, known in the Valencian Community and Carche as Valencian, is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of two autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. It is also an official language in Valencia, where it is called Valencian. It has semi-official status in the Italian comune of Alghero, and it is spoken in the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France and in two further areas in eastern Spain: the eastern strip of Aragon and the Carche area in the Region of Murcia. The Catalan-speaking territories are often called the Països Catalans or "Catalan Countries".
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory lies on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight regions, which are in turn divided into 42 comarques. The capital and largest city, Barcelona, is the second-most populated municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union.
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), his work on Sagrada Família is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.
Joaquim Monzó i Gómez, also known as Quim Monzó, is a contemporary Spanish writer of novels, short stories and discursive prose, mostly in Catalan. In the early 1970s, Monzó reported from Vietnam, Cambodia, Northern Ireland and East Africa for the Barcelona newspaper Tele/eXpres. He was one of the members of the Catalan literary collective, Ofèlia Dracs. He lives in Barcelona and publishes regularly in La Vanguardia.
Salvador Espriu i Castelló was a Catalan poet from Spain.
Francesc Eiximenis was a Franciscan Catalan writer who lived in the 14th-century Crown of Aragon. He was possibly one of the more successful medieval Catalan writers since his works were widely read, copied, published and translated. Therefore, it can be said that both in the literary and in the political sphere he had a lot of influence. Among his readers were numbered important people of his time, such as the kings of the Crown of Aragon Peter IV, John I and Martin I, the queen Maria de Luna, and the Pope of Avignon Benedict XIII.
Josep Carner i Puigoriol, was a Spanish poet, journalist, playwright and translator. He was also known as the Prince of Catalan Poets. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.
Josep Pla i Casadevall was a Spanish journalist and a popular author. As a journalist he worked in France, Italy, Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union, from where he wrote political and cultural chronicles in Catalan and Spanish.
Catalunya Ràdio is Catalonia's public radio network. With headquarters in Barcelona, it is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Joan Maragall i Gorina was a Catalan poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the modernisme movement in literature. His manuscripts are preserved in the Joan Maragall Archive of Barcelona.
Teatre Nacional de Catalunya is a public theatre located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was created by the Culture Department of the Catalan Government to normalize and enhance the theatre and dance in Catalan language and their creators.
Josep Maria Benet i Jornet, also known as "Papitu", was one of the most renowned Catalan playwrights, considered one of the main renewers of Catalan theater.
Baltasar Porcel i Pujol was a Spanish writer, journalist and literary critic. His enormous legacy credited him as one of the greatest authors in Catalan literature from the 20th century.
Joaquim Maria Puyal i Ortiga is a Catalan journalist known for his work in television and radio.
Albert Ràfols-Casamada was a Spanish painter, poet and art teacher involved in the vanguard movements of his time. He is considered one of the most important, multifaceted Catalan artists of his time. His artwork began in the post-expressionist, figurative sphere but soon developed into his own abstract style grounded in a poetic rendering of everyday reality.
Antoni Maria Badia i Margarit was a Catalan linguist and philologist who produced works on the grammar and history of the Catalan language. He was born in Barcelona.
Jordi Puntí i Garriga is a Catalan language writer, columnist, and translator.
Xavier Bosch i Sancho, publicly known as Xavier Bosch is a Catalan-Spanish writer and journalist.
The Cervantine collection of the Biblioteca de Catalunya is one of the most important collections in public sector about Miguel de Cervantes and his works.
Pere Aragonès i Garcia is a Catalan lawyer and politician, and the President of the Government of Catalonia since 22 May 2021. He previously served between 2018 and 2021 as Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance of Catalonia, as well as Acting President since 28 September 2020. He is a member of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) political party.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
