The Majorcan writer and translator Maria Antònia Oliver, awarded the Ramon Llull Prize in 2003 in recognition of her literary career, has died at the age of 75.

Born in 1946 in Manacor, Maria Antònia Oliver was part of the literary generation of the 1970s. Oliver began in literature with novels focused on the social transformation experienced in Mallorca as a result of the tourist boom and highly influenced by the Rondallistic genre. In this line, she published Cròniques d’un mig estiu (1970); Chronicles of the most famous city of Montcarrà (1972) and El vaixell d’iràs i no tornaràs (1976).

She also devoted herself to crime novels, with works such as Estudi en lila (1986), the first book in the series starring the Majorcan detective Lònia Guiu. In addition, she cultivated the epic genre, with Crineres de foc (1986). With her work Joana E. (1992), she won the Prudenci Bertrana award. Likewise, she is the author of the novels Amor de cans (City of Palma Novel Prize in 1995) and Tallats de lluna.

Her work also includes collaborations, such as the book-report Les illes, published with the photographer Antoni Catany, or the collaboration she did with Maria Rius in the children’s story Margalida, perla fina (1984).

Likewise, Maria Antònia Oliver also wrote a short narrative and two plays, in addition to participating in publications by the Ofèlia Dracs collective.

She also worked for television with different dramatic scripts and collaborated in publications such as El Correo Catalán, Serra d’Or and the Avui newspaper.

As a translator, she translated into Catalan works by Virginia Woolf, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain and Herman Melville, among others.

Maria Antònia Oliver received the Honor Award for Catalan Letters in 2016 and the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2007. In addition, in 2018 the Manacor City Council declared her her favorite daughter.

The Majorcan writer and translator Maria Antònia Oliver. Photo: GOIB.