Melcion Mateu (Barcelona, Spain, 1971) is the author of four books of poetry, among them Vida evident, which won the 1998 Octavio Paz Prize, and Illes lligades, which was awarded the 2014 Jocs Florals de Barcelona Prize. Several of the poems from Illes Illigades are featured, along with those of Rowan Ricardo Phillips, in bassist and composer Alexis Cuadrado's forthcoming CD, Poètica. Mateu has translated into Catalan works by John Ashbery, Siri Hustvedt, and Michael Ondaatje, among others. He holds an MA in comparative literature from Cornell University and a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese from New York University. He is currently a professor at the Univesidade Federal do Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil.