Image © Miquel Taverba
Location: Spain
Gemma Ruiz-Palà
Gemma Ruiz Palà (Sabadell, 1975) is a Catalan journalist and writer. Her first novel, Argelagues (2016), was a great success in Spain. Wenling’s is her second novel, for which she spent years visiting nail salons incognito to capture their conversations, atmosphere and vibes. Her third novel, Our Mothers (2023), won the Sant Jordi Prize in 2022. This was the first time in nineteen years that a woman had received the prize.
Translated by Peter Bush, who has translated a number of Catalan modern classics, including Black Bread by Emili Teixidor, Mercè Rodoreda’s In Diamond Square, Joan Sales’ Uncertain Glory and Winds of the Night, Josep Plà’s Life Embitters and The Gray Notebook, which won the 2014 Ramon Llull Prize for Literary Translation. In 2015 he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi by the Catalan government for his translation and promotion of Catalan literature.
