Bel Olid

Bel Olid Báez (born 4 October 1977) is a Catalan writer, translator, and teacher of language, literature, translation, and creative writing. They have received several literary prizes, among them the 2010 . From 2015 to 2022, they were the president of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana. As of 2024, they are an Assistant Instructional Professor in Catalan and Spanish at the University of Chicago.

Biography Born in Mataró, the child of immigrants from another region of Spain, Bel Olid earned a licentiate in Translation and Interpreting from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 1999, and has since dedicated themself to the translation of books and films. They have worked as a language and literature teacher since 2005. In 2010, they obtained a master's degree in Language and Literature Didactics. They have translated works into Catalan from English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. They are a member of the Gretel children's and youth literature research group at the UAB.

In 2008, Olid published the storybook Estela, grita muy fuerte to help prevent child abuse, released by the Fineo publishing house for the Rana Association (Help Network for Abused Children) of the Balearic Islands. It received the QWERTY Award for best children's book.

In 2010, they published the essay Les heroïnes contraataquen: models literaris contra l'universal masculí, which received the Rovelló Award.

In October 2014, together with the writers Josep Maria Espinàs and Albert Sánchez Piñol, they presented the Writers' Manifesto for Independence, signed by more than 300 writers in favor of the independence of Catalonia.

In 2013, Olid was elected president of the (CEATL), and in March 2015 they were elected President of the Association of Writers in Catalan, replacing .

They contribute to various Catalan media outlets, including the newspaper Ara and the cultural magazines and .

For the Catalan autonomous elections of 21 December 2017, Bel Olid participated in the lists of the leftist independence coalition Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) for Barcelona.

Personal life Olid is a non-binary person and advocates for the use of gender-neutral language in Catalan. Olid uses they/them pronouns in English

Works Books ¡Estela, grita muy fuerte! (2008), Editorial Fineo, Les Heroïnes contraataquen (2011), Una terra solitària (2011), La mala reputació (2012), Vents més salvatges (2016), Planeta Group, Vides aturades (2016), Ara Llibres, Feminisme de butxaca (2017), Garbancito (2018), Combel Edit, Follem? (2019), Bridge, A contrapelo (2020), Capitán Swing,

Translations German to Catalan

Literary awards 2009: QWERTY Award from betevé for Best Children's Book for Estela, grita muy fuerte 2010: for Una terra solitària 2011: Rovelló Award for Les heroïnes contraataquen: models literaris contra l'universal masculí 2012: Roc Boronat Award for Celobert amb papallones (La mala reputació)