Maria Vilalta i Soteras (23 September 1932 â€" 19 August 2014) was a
Catalan-born Mexican playwright and a theatre director. Her plays have
been translated, published and produced in numerous countries. She won
the critic’s prize for the best play of the year ten times. In
November 2010 she was awarded the National Prize for Arts and Sciences
in the field of Linguistics and Literature, for her work which has
national and international resonance. President Felipe Calderón
Hinojosa gave her the award at Mexico's National Palace.[1]Maruxa
Vilalta was born in Barcelona in 1932, daughter of lawyer Antonio
Vilalta y Vidal, and MarÃa Soteras MaurÃ. Antonio Her father was a
supporter for the Estatut de la Generalitat and one of the founders of
Esquerra Republicana party. He was also a distinguished jurist,
elected and proclaimed deputy of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de
Barcelona. MarÃa Soteras was the first woman to graduate with a
degree in law from the University of Barcelona and she was also a
member of the Colegio de Abogados. In 1936, at the start of the Civil
War in Spain, they went in exile to Brussels and they arrived in
Mexico by the way of New York City in 1939. She became a Mexican
citizen at eight years of age. She received all her education in
Mexico, from primary school and then six years of French baccalauréat
at the Liceo Franco Mexicano. She enrolled in the School of Liberal
Arts at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she
studied for a master's degree in Spanish literature.[2]Vilalta started
as a novelist. Her first works were El castigo (The Punishment) in
1957, Los desorientados (The Disoriented Ones), reprinted several
times in 1959, and Dos colores para el paisaje (Two Colors for the
Landscape) in 1961. She adapted Los desorientados for the theatre and
since the first performance, in 1960, she began her career as a
playwright. She wrote dramas and some short stories, among them El
otro dÃa, la muerte (The Other Day, Dead), a 1974 collection which
includes Diálogos del narrador, la muerte y su invitado (Dialogues of
the Narrator, Death and Her Guest), Romance con la muerte de agua (The
Romance of Watery Death), Aventura con la muerte de fuego (Adventure
with Fiery Death), and Morir temprano, mientras comulga el general (To
Die Early, While the General Receives Communion).[1]In 2002 the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) published, in "Voz
Viva" series, the CD-book AntologÃa de teatro (Anthologie of
Theatre), with selections from plays of Maruxa Vilalta in the voice of
the author and in published texts. The same year, the Sociedad General
de Escritores de México publishes three plays from this dramaturge in
the CD Cien años de teatro mexicano (One Hundred Years of Mexican
Theater). In November 2003 Fondo de Cultura Económica published
AntologÃa de obras de teatro de Maruxa Vilalta (Anthology of
Theatrical Works by Maruxa Vilalta) in its collection, Letras
Mexicanas. Fondo de Cultura Económica published several plays by
Vilalta in the collections Teatro I (1972, fourth edition 1997),
Teatro II (1989, second edition 1992) and Teatro III (1990, third
edition 1994). In 2006, Edwin Mellen Press (Lewiston, New York)
published A Voice in the Wilderness. The Life of Saint Jerome,
translated by Edward Huberman and Sharon Magnarelli.[1]
Catalan-born Mexican playwright and a theatre director. Her plays have
been translated, published and produced in numerous countries. She won
the critic’s prize for the best play of the year ten times. In
November 2010 she was awarded the National Prize for Arts and Sciences
in the field of Linguistics and Literature, for her work which has
national and international resonance. President Felipe Calderón
Hinojosa gave her the award at Mexico's National Palace.[1]Maruxa
Vilalta was born in Barcelona in 1932, daughter of lawyer Antonio
Vilalta y Vidal, and MarÃa Soteras MaurÃ. Antonio Her father was a
supporter for the Estatut de la Generalitat and one of the founders of
Esquerra Republicana party. He was also a distinguished jurist,
elected and proclaimed deputy of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de
Barcelona. MarÃa Soteras was the first woman to graduate with a
degree in law from the University of Barcelona and she was also a
member of the Colegio de Abogados. In 1936, at the start of the Civil
War in Spain, they went in exile to Brussels and they arrived in
Mexico by the way of New York City in 1939. She became a Mexican
citizen at eight years of age. She received all her education in
Mexico, from primary school and then six years of French baccalauréat
at the Liceo Franco Mexicano. She enrolled in the School of Liberal
Arts at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she
studied for a master's degree in Spanish literature.[2]Vilalta started
as a novelist. Her first works were El castigo (The Punishment) in
1957, Los desorientados (The Disoriented Ones), reprinted several
times in 1959, and Dos colores para el paisaje (Two Colors for the
Landscape) in 1961. She adapted Los desorientados for the theatre and
since the first performance, in 1960, she began her career as a
playwright. She wrote dramas and some short stories, among them El
otro dÃa, la muerte (The Other Day, Dead), a 1974 collection which
includes Diálogos del narrador, la muerte y su invitado (Dialogues of
the Narrator, Death and Her Guest), Romance con la muerte de agua (The
Romance of Watery Death), Aventura con la muerte de fuego (Adventure
with Fiery Death), and Morir temprano, mientras comulga el general (To
Die Early, While the General Receives Communion).[1]In 2002 the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) published, in "Voz
Viva" series, the CD-book AntologÃa de teatro (Anthologie of
Theatre), with selections from plays of Maruxa Vilalta in the voice of
the author and in published texts. The same year, the Sociedad General
de Escritores de México publishes three plays from this dramaturge in
the CD Cien años de teatro mexicano (One Hundred Years of Mexican
Theater). In November 2003 Fondo de Cultura Económica published
AntologÃa de obras de teatro de Maruxa Vilalta (Anthology of
Theatrical Works by Maruxa Vilalta) in its collection, Letras
Mexicanas. Fondo de Cultura Económica published several plays by
Vilalta in the collections Teatro I (1972, fourth edition 1997),
Teatro II (1989, second edition 1992) and Teatro III (1990, third
edition 1994). In 2006, Edwin Mellen Press (Lewiston, New York)
published A Voice in the Wilderness. The Life of Saint Jerome,
translated by Edward Huberman and Sharon Magnarelli.[1]
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