It consists of the poetic texts of a requiem written by Juana Dolores, two literary texts by the author that situate the gestation of the text and reflect on the art of writing, an epilogue by the composer Marc Migó and a final block of 21 photographic creations made by the photographer Román Yñán and the artist Rosa Tharrats, regular collaborators of the film director Albert Serra.

A book that will not leave any Catalan indifferent.

The text was set to music by Marc Migó and performed by Cor Canta and the Terrassa 48 orchestra at the Barcelona Auditorium last March 5.

Book in Catalan.

L'entrada i si una nació desfilant per una catifa vermella ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

In this collection of poems, she does not deny the lyrical world, nor that of the song, since they are part of her identity, but she questions it. Now she seems to have found a new voice, a new never-ending path, combining philosophical questions with possible poetic answers, about love, seduction, thought, word, friendship and illness.

The book goes into her best context: friendships, poetry, philosophy and song. His new poetic melody takes the form of an aphorism, often silence and a question. She does not stop dialoguing with her work and there is a constant insistence to discover the way of the word, the song, love and health.

Here you can see the book trailer of the book:

Biography of the author
Ivette Nadal (Granollers, 1988) is a singer-songwriter and poet. At the age of 17, she took to the stage, always combining poetry and song. Her songs and concerts and the collaboration with musicians such as Manolo Garcia, Pascal Comelade and Caïm Riba support a solid musical career where she understands poetry and song as two aspects of the field of creation, which is why her concerts are filled of poems and also philosophical quotes. She has published Camí privat (2008), Arbres, mars i desconcerts (2017), L’àngel i la infermesa del pensament (2020). Her recording work most closely linked to the world of poetry is Mestres i amics, where she sets music to the work of contemporary Catalan poets (2012). And the last, most radical poetic-musical proposal that she has presented to us is En nom de la ferida (2020), an album made four hands with Pascal Comelade.

L'entrada Camí del text ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

According to the author, “this book is a vital moment of a few years turned into a global vision of everything, it is a poem of the world that takes on all forms and tones and moods… and soon it speaks of love or intimate relationship, as of nature and the city, and raises philosophical and metaphysical questions, and makes essay and criticism and satire and sarcasm of things and of literary and vital opinions, and that is why it has the form of verse, of prose poetry, sometimes of essay, of aphorism also a lot, and almost also of small narratives. The set is a jigsaw puzzle that reconstructs an entire world: the world, with a style that goes
of the most elemic realism, (touching the ground, yes, but what is the ground? where is it?)».

The musical-poetic recital that bears the same title, “El nus la flor”, is a journey through several poems from the book set to music by Daniel Ariño, who also plays the piano. Their names are Enric Casasses (spoken voice) and Maria Mauri (sung voice), and they have been recorded on a CD that you will also find accompanying some copies of the book (price: €29). You will find the book in bookstores and the musical part on Spotify.

L'entrada El nus la flor (CD) ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

One of the oldest human fictions, which has reached us in the form of clay tablets in cuneiform writing from ancient Mesopotamia. The first versions of the work date back to Sumeria 4,000 years ago. The great classics are those that take on all the future visions that are yet to come, and this one certainly does.

In it you will find the aspiration of Gilgamesh, king of the Sumerian city of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu to embrace life in all its fullness. The king, who has defied the gods themselves to leave a mark and be eternally remembered, is forced to wander through life, searching for its meaning.

Guilgamesh needs to understand, and that’s why he wants to stop time, and the whole journey he makes in pursuit of the life that escapes him ends up being life itself, his life that is learning. Only when he is old, and returns home again, does he understand this reality, accept it and recognize himself as an old man who has lived his life trying to catch it.

The version we are publishing of the work, made by Jeroni Rubió Rodon, is designed to reach a wide audience, both for those who heard it in its performance at El Grec and for the reader who will read it on paper. Unlike academic editions, it adapts the argument to make it easier to read.

Foreword by Oriol Broggi.
Sheet of 11 full-color photographs of the performance at the Grec.

Watch the book trailer:

L'entrada El poema de Guilgameix, rei d’Uruk ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

In the first essay, Casasses reviews Paganini’s only “religious” piece, and through verse leads us through the various movements of the work, with changes in intensity and melody. At the same time, it reviews the life of the Italian composer and his time.

In the second, we find a very personal vision of Antoni Gaudí and the influence he has had on the Catalan poet. Casasses’ verses are sprinkled with Gaudí’s notes that bring us closer to the character and reveal creative aspects that may not be so well known.

Finally, the third is a walk through the sardana “Amb el porró en fresc” by Josep Blanch i Reynalt, where a reflection on the traditions of the popular classes that are little by little being lost, the figure of the sardanist and the various pieces he composed, all accompanied by old photographs and some sheet music.

The book has a peculiar binding: each essay has a different width, so that a scale of three page widths is created, coinciding with the change of essay. Two of the essays are written without capitals because Casasses declares: “as long as the judgment against the Jordis Cuixart and Sánchez is not annulled I will only write in lowercase.”

Some press about it (in Catalan):

L’Irradiador d’ICAT, 3/11/20
Els “assagets” d’Enric Casasses
Conversa de David Guzman amb l’autor:

Revista La Lectora, 13/10/20
Epicuris espuris
Crítica literària de Gerard Cisneros:

La Llança (El Nacional), 13/10/20
Enric Casasses: “La poesia és un joc d’equip”
Ressenya de Joan Safont Plumed.

El Temps de les Arts, 27/9/20
Els assagets d’en Casasses
Crítica literària completa d’en Pere Antoni Pons.

Catorze.cat, setembre 2020
Paganini escoltat per Casasses
Tast editorial de l’obra:

Els experts · ICAT, 17/9/20
Lluís Ruiz recomana Assagets i Pitó.

Diari ARA, 10/10/20
Enric Casasses: “Abans teníem una civilització. Ara tenim un imperi”
Entrevista d’Antoni Bassas al poeta:

Àrtic · Betevé, 15/10/20
Resum del Barcelona Poesia
Recital a la Biennal del Pensament i petita entrevista:

Catorze.cat, octubre 20
Enric Casasses: «De l’anar fent no en dic sobreviure, sinó viure»
Conversa de Gemma Ventura amb el poeta.

Diari Núvol, 4/9/20
Enric Casasses, versos d’honor
Entrevista de Bernat Puigtobella.

Acte inaugural, Setmana del Llibre en Català, 3/9/20
Intervenció d’Enric Casasses
(minut 32:45)

PREMI D’HONOR DE LES LLETRES CATALANES:

Òmnium Cultural, 21/10/20
Vídeo resum de l’acte d’entrega:

Diari Núvol · Glossa de Bel Olid:
«Casasses no casasseja»

Notícies 324 · resum de l’entrega:
Casasses converteix en un recital poètic
la cerimònia d’entrega del Premi d’Honor

Diari Núvol · Article sobre l’entrega
Casasses a la taula dels grans

L'entrada assagets ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

In the book, an ancient serpent guards the place and its eye is an oracular, murmuring fountain. The snake only deals with hapless shepherds and succulent flocks. Until the archer god arrives and kills her. Thus, with the spilling of the monster’s blood and a consequent purification, the oracle of Delphi was founded.

Guim Valls reflects on the fact that God is always given the share of glory and the fact that men have been given a space from which to grasp between the lines the mysteries of destiny; and he suggests that we delve for a moment into the previous eye, that of the snake, which is where the power that the god coveted and made his own comes from. The book has a textured cover that imitates the skin of a snake, and which the reader will be able to perceive when he shuffles the book in bookstores.

L'entrada Pitó ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

The majority of Kenneth Patchen’s (Ohio 1911 – California 1972) almost forty books are poetry collections, though none of them written in traditional verse. A spinal injury aggravated by unsuccessful surgery resulted in his spending the last 13 years of his life in bed and in considerable pain. During this period he experiments with the ‘painting-and-poem’ form, a new format in which writing and painting become a single language of expression. In Panorames de poemes we offer three examples of this technique.

Patchen has fallen into oblivion because neither specialized nor mainstream media have managed to create a product out of him, but he is nevertheless one of the great writers of the American 20^th century —the greatest, according to Henry Miller. He was the poet that Charlie Parker carried in his pocket. His poetry readings were attended by Charlie Mingus and his group. Bob Dylan’s images and atmospheres are clearly Patchen-influenced. When he wants to, he is the toughest of authors. And his love poetry is among the most beautiful you could find. A land of wonders, funny but also spine-chilling, on this side of the mirror.» (Excerpt taken from Enric Casasses’ foreword)

L'entrada Panorames de poemes ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

L'entrada Ícar ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

L'entrada Ignar ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.

This is a poetry collection divided in four parts, “Neu”, “Guspires”, “Eons” and “Sorra”, that compiles the emotions and the thoughts of the author. It is a universal effort, one of creation, of original research, about light and silence, and also about the primordial side of man. It is not an act of vindication, but something that is closer to the vital experience of the haiku form. A game between poet and reader. Significance and quality in a very personal and sensitive poetic interplay that brings us closer to creation, to universal light. A mystical collection of poetry, which leans towards the oriental in its minimalism. In the words of Carles Duarte, “Neu exhales wise humility in front of immensity, is always attentive to the primeval and ceaseless heartbeat of the Earth, and offers to take every single one of our gestures and connect them to that underlying current that gives meaning and continuity to what we are; by doing so, we become one with the eternal voice of Nature, that shapes us and gives us shelter”.

Or negre

This is the dark side of the book. Written in prose poetry, a fractured narrative conveys a journey into darkness, into that which lies beneath. Mystery and fear emanate from every word in ceaseless research and questioning, in a constant striving for knowledge. Motley, exotic and almost romantic, it is close to classical mythology and yet its meaning is conveyed through surrealist turns of phrase, through the readings it offers of symbol and myth. Bordering a flaming state, it relies heavily on symbolism and is directly indebted to an understanding of form as a primary truth, as in the verse «xuclant-nos el verí, l’ullal a l’ull de la serpent» (“sucking out each other’s poison, the tusk into the eye of the serpent”). In his foreword, Lluís Calvo states: “The or negre (‘dark gold’) is also the pain, the memory that comes back and jabs you, the biological wound that will not heal. But it is only through the poem that this dark gold becomes a healing energy, a flame, a fierce combustion, a renovating fire”. Altogether, a flamy, baroque collection of poetry.

L'entrada Neu/Or Negre ha aparegut primer a Edicions Poncianes.