Xavier Serrahima

Catalan author literature adds a new publishing venture with the birth of Argestes, the project promoted by Xavier Serrahima and focused on essays, narrative, and works with a very marked unique voice. The publishing house was presented this week with two first publications: the re-edition of Ventada de morts, by Josep Albanell, and El llegat d'Atzara, an unpublished work by Vicenç Villatoro written before the pandemic. Argestes will publish between five and six titles a year and is committed to books where "the word, beauty, and depth" continue to be central. The project also arises with the desire to reclaim a more unhurried and demanding publishing approach, focused on works that establish a deep connection with readers and that defend literature as an aesthetic and reflective experience.

Serrahima has been linked to the Catalan literary ecosystem for decades as an editor, critic, poet, and novelist. Throughout his career, he has published poetry collections such as Oceà d'incertesa or sensdir, as well as novels, children's literature, and essays focused on reading and poetry. In 2011, he received the Antonio Machado International Literature Prize and has also collaborated in cultural media and magazines such as El Punt Avui, Revista de Catalunya, Núvol or Catorze. Precisely this literary and essayistic perspective is what he now wants to bring to Argestes, a publishing house that takes its name from a Greek northeast wind and is born with the desire to build a small catalog, but with its own identity.