Catalan is a Romance language spoken by a population of around ten million people in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Catalonia, Balearic Islands, most of the Valencia region, and the eastern fringe of Aragon) and the Principality of Andorra. In addition, Catalan is still spoken in the French region of Roussillon and the town of Alghero (L'Alguer) on the island of Sardinia.

Catalan, like other Romance languages, evolved from Latin during the Middle Ages. The first written documents in Catalan are the Homilies dOrganyà, a compilation of sermons from the 11th century. From Medieval times until our days, Catalan has continued to be one of the main languages of everyday use and literary expression in the eastern areas of the Iberian Peninsula. After a politically and culturally hegemonic period up to the 16th century, literary expression in Catalan experienced a decline until the 19th century, when, prompted by romantic ideals, there was a revival in the literary use of the language.

Catalan can be divided into two varieties: the western variety, spoken in Valencia, the western part of Catalonia, the eastern fringe of Aragon, and Andorra; and the eastern variety, spoken in the rest of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Roussillon, and L'Alguer.

Today, Catalan is the co-official language, together with Spanish, in the Catalan-speaking areas of the Iberian Peninsula; and it is the only official language of Andorra.

The North American Catalan Society (NACS) is a professional association of scholars, students, and people with a general interest in any aspect of Catalan culture (literature, linguistics, visual and performing arts, history, and philosophy, among other disciplines).

Founded in 1978, during the First Colloquium of Catalan Studies in North America (held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), the NACS is committed to encouraging and advancing the study of Catalan language and culture in the North American academy. It seeks to foster greater visibility for and dissemination of scholarship in the field of Catalan Studies and serves as a central point of reference, as well as a public voice, for a network of scholars in this field. To this end, the NACS holds triennial colloquia (along with occasional smaller symposia) and publishes the Catalan Review: International Journal of Catalan Culture. Click here for the Estatutes of the NACS.

In 1997, the Institut d'Estudis Catalans and the Catalan government granted the NACS the prestigious Ramon Llull Award in recognition of its role in promoting Catalan culture on an international scale. In 1998, the NACS received the Creu de Sant Jordi, the highest recognition awarded by the Catalan government.

Catalan Review is the premier international scholarly journal devoted to all aspects of Catalan culture. By Catalan culture is understood all manifestations of intellectual and artistic life produced in the Catalan language or in the geographical areas where Catalan is spoken. Catalan Review has been in publication since 1986.

Catalan Review publishes two issues per year. These contain scholarly articles, book reviews, and regular overviews of current cultural information from the Catalan-speaking lands prepared by our correspondents in the fields of history, linguistics, literature, theater and dance, the visual arts, and music.

The language of publication is English, but we also publish work in Catalan. Monographic issues, often guest-edited, may have articles in other languages. Scholarly articles in all cultural fields are welcome. Submissions should be sent to the Managing Editor, preferably by e-mail (mtibbits@howard.edu). Procedures ["Guidelines for Authors"] can be found on every issue before the Table of Contents, and on the NACS website: www.nacs-catalanstudies.org. All articles are refereed by two specialist readers and by the editors. Catalan Review is listed with the MLA Review of Periodicals

Subscription to Catalan Review is US$55.00. NACS members in good standing receive complimentary copies. While submissions by all scholars will be assured consideration and may be published, we hope that authors submitting their work to the journal will become members of the NACS.

• Editors: August Bover (Universitat de Barcelona) and Josep Miquel Sobrer (Indiana University).
• Managing Editor: Mercè Vidal Tibbits (Howard University).
• Assistant Editor: Jaume Martí Olivella (University of New Hampshire)
• Review Editors: Curt Wittlin (Catalonia) and Sharon Feldman (University of Richmond).
• Associate Editors: Maria Rosa Lloret (Universitat de Barcelona) and Donna Rogers (Dalhousie University)

Catalan Studies encompasses a wide variety of fields of intellectual inquiry and production, including history, linguistics, literature, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, political science, the history of art and architecture, and philosophy, with a focus on the Catalan-speaking areas.

Since Catalan-speaking areas encompass different nation-states (specifically, Spain, Andorra, France, and Italy), Catalan Studies comprise an especially exciting field of research into phenomena such as cultural identity, linguistic policy, multilingualism, language acquisition, nationalism, immigration, globalization, and so-called minor or minoritized cultural, linguistic, and political formations.

With a richly complex literary, artistic, and political tradition stretching from the Middle Ages to present day, the Catalan-speaking areas, and more particularly Barcelona, have been at the center of innovative projects in areas as diverse as architecture (Domènech i Montaner, Puig i Cadafalch, Gaudí, Sert, Bohigas, Bofill, Tusquets, and Miralles), painting (Fortuny, Dalí, Miró, Tàpies, Sorolla, and Barceló) music (Granados, Casals, and Mompou), literature (Llull, March, Martorell, Verdaguer, Oller, Maragall, Víctor Català, Villalonga, Rodoreda, Pla, Calders, Gimferrer, Riera, Monzó, Moncada, and Torrent or, writing in Spanish, Vázquez Montalbán and Mendoza), theater (Guimerà, Rusiñol, Teixidor, Belbel, Benet i Jornet, Els Joglars, Els Comediants, and La Fura dels Baus), film, cuisine, design, fashion, and popular culture.