Geographical classification

Europe > Spain

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Feminism

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Literature since the last third of the 20th century

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Post-war literature > Experimental literature

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Musical movements since the end of the 19th century > Popular music > Electronic music

Groups by dedication

Activists > Feminists (activists)

Writers > in > Catalan

Writers > Poets

Writers > Translators

Writers > Journalists / Chroniclers > Literary, music, etc. critics

Plastic, visual and performing artists

Character
Pla

Maria Sevilla i Paris

Badalona 22-03-1990

Period of activity: From 2015 until Still active

Geographical classification: Europe > Spain

Socio-cultural movements

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Feminism

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Literature since the last third of the 20th century

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Literary and cultural movements since the end of the 19th century > Post-war literature > Experimental literature

Late modern period / Contemporary period > Musical movements since the end of the 19th century > Popular music > Electronic music

Groups by dedication

Activists > Feminists (activists)

Writers > in > Catalan

Writers > Poets

Writers > Translators

Writers > Journalists / Chroniclers > Literary, music, etc. critics

Plastic, visual and performing artists

Context of feminine creation

 
Maria Sevilla draws from very diverse sources. She has been interested in the work of thinkers like Adriana Cavarero and Judith Butler, in the writings of Hilda Hirst, Clarice Lispector and Virginie Despentes and in the music of Electric Indigo, Escorbuto and Joy Division. Some Catalan authors who have served as referents include Caterina Albert and Mercè Rodoreda, Maria-Mercè Marçal, especially her novel The Passion of Renée Vivien, Dolores Miquel, for her transgressor character, and Núria Martínez-Vernis, for her more performatic aspects.  


She is associated to the poet Raquel Santanera, with whom she has shared projects, and with Laia Carbonell. All three have taken over the programming of the literary space L’Horiginal, in Ferlandina Street in Barcelona, since 2019. She has collaborated with musician Joan Martínez and with poet and designer Francesc Gelonch. 

Review

Maria Sevilla, poet, performer and literary critic, is the author of three collections of poems and a plaquet. Her poetry reflects, above all, on the construction and representation of identities and on a series of contemporary violences, many of them linked to the body (guilt, sexuality, dissident corporalities, the productive body, etc.). Her work is often provocative and uncomfortable, given her transformative vocation.

Seville combines several disciplines (literature, music, performances, etc.) and has participated in numerous international festivals with performances of sound poetry, in which she incorporates electroacoustic and audiovisual music. She is also the author of some artistic installations, especially of the poem “Poema”.

http://inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/3341/Poema_Maria_Sevilla.pdf

Justifications

  • Poet, performer and literary critic.
  • She is one of the main exponents of sound poetry in Catalonia. In her shows she fuses voice with electroacoustic music and also uses audiovisual support.
  • She treats subjects which take the body and place of enunciation as the central axis.
  • Her poetry explores all kinds of contemporary violence, whether physical or discursive.
  • Her influences come from various fields, including punk music, techno, gore cinema, feminist theory.
  • Her poetry is very rhythmic and she often plays with repeated patterns.
  • Her works have been translated into different European languages, among others, Spanish, English, Turkish, German and Lithuanian.
  • She has taken part in numerous festivals with recitals and sound poetry.

Biography

A poet, performer and literary critic, Maria Sevilla was born in Badalona on 22 March 1990. She studied at the Salvador Espriu School and the Isaac Albéniz Institute, where she studied high school in Humanities and became interested in literature. Subsequently, she studied Catalan Philology at the University of Barcelona. 
She was unveiled in 2015 with her first collection Dents de Polpa, awarded the Bernat Vidal and Tomàs de Santanyí prize. Since then, she has alternated work as a teacher, either as an associate at the University of Barcelona or with unregulated training for elderly people or workshops promoting reading at the Casal d'Infants del Raval, and recitals or shows in poetic cycles and national and international festivals. She has taught writing workshops at the Brossa Foundation and the Bonnemaison Center, among others. 
She is one of the main exponents of sound poetry in Catalonia and has also experimented with video-recitals.  
Her poetry addresses issues related to language, violence (both representative and physical) and corporality. Her influences come from various areas, including punk music, techno, gore cinema, and feminist theory. 
Since 2019 she is one of the programmers of the L’Horiginal, a space dedicated to poetry in Barcelona. 
 
On the other hand, she has written several articles and participated in academic events surrounding the literary fact.  
Her work has been translated into Spanish, English, Turkish, German and Lithuanian. We can find a sample in Lyrikline, 05-06-2023,

https://www.lyrikline.org/es/autores/maria-sevilla

or in the Revista Idees, 05-06-2023, https://revistaidees.cat/es/maria-sevilla-indecent-la-manera-com/

She has been included on the website of Lletra, 05-06-2023, https://lletra.uoc.edu/ca//massa-mare-sevilla/detall

Works

POETRY

(2015). Dents de polpa. Calonge: AdiaA Edicions.

(2017). Kalàixnikov. Manacor: Món de Llibres.

(2020). if true: false; else: true. Juneda: Editorial Fonoll.

(2021). Plastilina. Juneda: Editorial Fonoll.

Lyrikline

Revista Idees

 

NARRATIVE

(2019). Texts accompanying Narrativa obscena, by Hilda Hilst. Vilanova i la Geltrú. El cep i la nansa edicions.

(2020). “Sant Onagre dels desemparats”, in VVAA, El porc del demà. Relats distòpics sobre la indústria càrnia. Sant Cugat del Vallès: Pol·len edicions, pp. 48-61.

 

ESSAY

(2016). “I amb la glotis paralitzada et maleeixo, mare: formes de dissidència” in La passió segons Rennée Vivien. VI Jornades Marçalianes. Dolor de ser i no ser tu: Desig. Sabadell: Fundació Maria-Mercè Marçal, pp.75-108

(2017). “Anna Dodas i la violència estàtica”, Ausa, XXVIII (180), pp. 355-374

(2018). “Poesia jove en català̀ als intersticis: l’obra de Maria Cabrera i de Guim Valls”, in Olívia Gassol i Òscar Bagur (ed.). La poesia catalana al segle XXI, balanç̧ crític. Barcelona: Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Llengua i Literatura (14), pp. 91-109;

(2022) “’Hi haurà tant plagi com a mi em ragi’: tradició i irreverència en la poesia de Dolors Miquel”, in Olívia Gasol i Òscar Bagur (eds.). Dolors Miquel: tradició i inconformisme. Una poètica de la transformació. Barcelona, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, pp. 95-118.

(2022). “Epíleg” in Tió, Pere, Pobresa. Poemes de Jacint Verdaguer. Folgueroles: Verdaguer Edicions.

 

TRANSLATIONS

(2020). Sevilla, Maria. Kalashnikov. Translation by the author and by Caterina Riba. Barcelona: Godall.

(2018). “Maria Sevilla tria Andrew McMillan”, Caràcters, núm. 85, p. 47.

Bibliography

Audí, Marc (2018). “Les voix à distance de Maria Cabrera i Maria Sevilla”, Catalonia, núm 23, pp. 65-78.

Matas, Meritxell (2022). “Visions perifèriques i angles morts. La producció poètica dels cossos a través de la mirada: Maria Sevilla, Raquel Santanera i Pol Guasch”, 472 F, núm. 27, p. 200-219.

Riba, Caterina (2023). “Maria Sevilla: la poesia com a hack lingüístic”, dins Maria palmer i Pere Rosselló (eds.) Literatura catalana contemporània: canvi i continuïtat, Societat Catalana de Llengua i Literatura, filial de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, pp. 13-30.

Lletra, 06/06/2023, https://lletra.uoc.edu/ca//massa-mare-sevilla/detall

Didactic approach

The author can be dealt with  in Catalan and Universal Literature of the last courses, especially in 2nd High School. In ESO you can work out the visual poetry from the poem Torn de nit  included in Massa mare: https://lletra.uoc.edu/ca//massa-mare-sevilla/detall

Here's a performance she did for Poetry Africa Festival in 2020. 

Youtube, 06/06/2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBzSeE85gng

Also, to work rhetorical figures such as repetition, alliteration, word creation, etc. Epíleg and Exorcism (the second can be found in lyrikline): 

https://www.lyrikline.org/es/poemas/exorcisme-13787

The question of technology and computer programming can also be explored in some works such as Poema, also converted into an installation. 

Her reflections on dissident and non-regulatory bodies could be addressed in Ethics. 

Documents