Coia Valls (Reus 1960) is an actress, teacher, speech therapist, and writer. In 2010 she won the Néstor Luján prize for historical novels with her first novel, The Jade Princess. She now publishes her tenth, Gaudí's Dream (Rosa dels Vents).

She studied at the Sant Josep school in Reus. “It was a convent school, and my mother started taking me before I was old enough, at two years old, because she had to work and look after my younger sister”. She was a very quiet child. “While my sister would climb everywhere, I was like an artichoke. I would listen, look, play with a toy and could spend hours like that”.

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Babou Cham (Gambia, 1974) is a theater, film, and television actor. He can currently be seen on tour in The storm, from the company La Perla 29, on February 28 in Manacor, on March 6 in Reus, on March 14 in Tarragona and on March 15 in Igualada.

When he was three years old, his father left for England, but stopped halfway, in Mataró. "He was going to study in England, but he stayed temporarily in the Maresme region and started helping other people who were also coming here, and many of them did make it to England, and some to Sweden and Denmark."

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Carme Riera (Palma de Mallorca, 1948) is a writer and professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Winner of the National Narrative Prize, the Josep Pla Prize, the Crexells Prize, and the Lletra d'Or Prize, among others, she publishes Thank you, a literary memoir of fifty years of writing.

She spent her early childhood in a large house in the center of Palma. "It was very damp. I remember the tiles covered in water, the bed soaked as if you'd stepped into the sea. On the other hand, it had a garden that I loved because you could run around and feel a bit free." The house had three floors. "Each of us had a floor: my parents lived on the ground floor, my grandmother and aunt lived on the first floor, and upstairs, on the third floor, lived my grandfather." My grandfather was quite a character: "He was very funny, he had a gym, a library, he rode his bicycle from 7 in the morning until 2, he swam in the sea whether it was summer or winter, he was quite eccentric."

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Daniel Anglès (Barcelona 1975) is an actor, singer and artistic director of the Teatre Condal and the program Euphoria from TV3. He directs the musical Blood brothers, which can be seen at the Condal from December 10th to January 25th.

He spent his childhood near the Monumental bullring in Barcelona. "From home, I could hear Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson concerts... I couldn't see them, but I could hear them from the kitchen." He went to the Xerric Xerrac nursery school, which is now the Atrium Theater. "They say that's where I started doing theater. My parents' hometown is Calaf, and I remember watching the Pastorets (Christmas plays) every Christmas. One January, at recess, the teachers saw that I had divided the children in the class into two groups and was telling them, 'You are angels, you are demons.'" He attended primary school at the Ramon Llull School and completed his pre-university studies at the Jaume Balmes Institute. "I was one of those kids who didn't need to study at all and got the grades I needed." But recess wasn't easy. "The boys played football or other sports, which I didn't like, and the girls jumped rope. I was always with the girls. Until I was 10, it wasn't a big deal, but after a certain age, it started to create difficult situations for me."

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Jaume Sanllorente (Barcelona, ​​1976) is a journalist and writer. He is the founder and director of Sonrisas de Bombay, an NGO that focuses on the peaceful fight against human trafficking and respect for human rights.

He grew up in Plaza Tetuán, Barcelona, ​​but went to school in Sarrià. "In Santa Isabel, where my mother was a teacher. This has advantages and disadvantages," he admits. "It deprived you of a bit of freedom and privacy since everyone knows who your mother is. Sometimes it's really good to be the one who's the best." son of, but others, not so much," he explains.

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Gisela Vaquero (Besalú, 1984) is a video game designer, producer, and content creator. She is the founder of Jellyworld Games and the Women in Games association, which supports female video game developers.

She attended the Salvador Vilarrasa School in Besalú. "It was right next to my house, but I often woke up to the music already playing, signaling everyone was leaving, and I was always the last to arrive," she says. She was a very introverted child, "very quiet and calm." "My parents weren't around much. A relative looked after me; I used to call her." Uncle Botey, and he taught me the alphabet before I could even walk. We had a table with painted games, goose, checkers, chess, and he taught me how to play. And that stuck," she adds.

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Sonia Fernández-Vidal (Barcelona, ​​1978) holds a PhD in information and quantum optics from the UAB. She is also a writer and science communicator.

She grew up in Mataró, in the Palau neighborhood. She attended the Angela Bransuela School, where her father worked as a teacher. "I had a great time, I loved learning. I was one of those kids who loves school." She immediately became interested in science. "I remember waiting in the library for my father to finish work, and when I was very young, a book fell into my hands: Bibliography of scientists. It was for children and was illustrated by Pilarín Bayés, with whom I would later make a book when I grew up. These things of destiny... And I remember that it had a huge impact on me, because I thought, what important people. And from then on, I said: I want to be a scientist."

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Maria Ripoll (Barcelona, ​​​​1965) is a film director. She debuted in 1998 with Rain on the shoes. Now he has released his latest film, This will also happen, based on the novel of the same name by Milena Busquets.

I lived on Sant Elies Street, near Plaza Molina. "First, I went to the Talitha School, which is now the Orlandai School, and then to the Acis Artur Martorell School and the Institut Montserrat." How did you experience the changes? "At 10, I went from one extreme to the other, from a progressive Catalanist school, which is Orlandai, to a school with a similar system, but in a different neighborhood, like Plaza Sanllehy, where I grew up. Kids came from the Carmel barracks, and I emerged as a bit of a fighter."

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Paula Leitón (Terrassa, 2000) is a water polo player for CN Sabadell. With the national team, she won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.

She went to the public school in the Pere Viver neighborhood of Terrassa, across the street from her house. And even as a child, her favorite subject was physical education. "I had a really cool teacher, who's still there, and I think it was here that I got hooked on sports," she explains. In fact, she started swimming at the age of two and hasn't gotten any better since. "I've always been very overweight, and the doctor recommended my mother introduce me to a sport. First, I did swimming, and when I was seven, I switched to water polo."

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Biel Duran (Gelida, 1984) is an actor. He made his debut at age 9 in Bigas Luna's 'La teta y la luna'. At 11, we first met him as Toni in TV3's 'Nissaga de poder'. We can now see him in 'Kramig', which runs until June 29 at Espai Texas.

Biel Duran attended the town's public school. "I have very fond memories, especially of the teachers' work. I really liked seeing those people explaining things to me. I also saw myself as a teacher," he says, although when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied, "A doctor." "Because they did Open heart on TV, they seemed like heroes to me. Then I realized that if I got hurt, I would get dizzy. And science wasn't my strong suit either," says the performer.

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Joan Maria Pou (Barcelona 1974) is a journalist. Since 2000, he has been reporting on FC Barcelona matches for RAC1.

She lost her mother very early. "My mother died very young, at 26, when I was seven months old. Then we went to live with my grandmother in Sant Gervasi, until I was 12."

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