Montse Watkins

Quick Facts

Full Name	Montse Watkins
Occupation	Journalist
Date Of Birth	Aug 27, 1955(1955-08-27)
Age	69
Date Of Death	November 25, 2000
Birthplace	Barcelona
Country	Spain
Birth City	Catalonia
Horoscope	Virgo

Montse Watkins Biography

Montse Watkins is one of the most popular and richest Journalist who was born on August 27, 1955 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Montse Watkins (Barcelona, August 27, 1955 – Kamakura, November 25, 2000) was a Spanish translator, fiction writer and essayist, editor and journalist who lived in Japan from 1985 until her passing in 2000. It was in this country that she carried out most of her professional activity. She was a correspondent for Spain’s Efe news agency and Avui daily, and El Mundo newspaper contributor. Watkins was well known for her research on the conditions of the nikkei, descendants of the Japanese diaspora who come to Japan in search of work not knowing the language or the culture. She is considered a pioneer in the direct translation into Spanish of Japanese literature. As an editor and translator, she always chose works by deeply engaged authors such as Kenji Miyazawa, Natsume Sōseki, Osamu Dazai and Toson Shimazaki.

In March 1985, Watkins traveled to Japan, where she immersed herself in the Japanese language and culture. “I came in search of adventure, thinking of the Japan shown in Yasujirō Ozu’s films, a refined image,” she explained in an interview published in 1999. She stayed in Japan until her death, and never returned to Spain. For three years, she studied Japanese in the prestigious Saint Joseph’s Institute of Japanese Studies in Roppongi (Tokyo), run by Franciscan friars, while living in an apartment in Tokyo’s Itabashi municipality. It was during this first period as a student in Tokyo that she began translating the writer and poet Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), specifically his Ginga tetsudō no yoru, which she would publish in 1994 with the title Tren nocturno de la Vía Láctea [Night on the Galactic Railroad] under Luna Books, the publishing company that Watkins founded in Tokyo under the Japanese publishing house Gendaikikakushitsu, founded by editors Masakuni Ota and Hideko Karasawa. She was the first “translator as well as editor” of Japanese literature into Spanish, and a pioneer of Spanish translation directly from the Japanese original.

Montse Watkins Net Worth

Montse Watkins is one of the richest Journalist from Spain. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Montse Watkins 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Montse Watkins Pedra was born in the neighborhood of La Salut (Gràcia district, Barcelona) on August 27, 1955, to Esteban Watkins Lafuente and María Teresa Pedra Gil. Her father was vice secretary general of the Catalan Football Federation for 38 years, while her mother kept house. She had a sister, Maite, two years younger. When Montse was three years old, the family moved to the Horta neighborhood (Barcelona).

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

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Who is Montse Watkins Dating?

According to our records, Montse Watkins is possibily single & has not been previously engaged. As of December 1, 2023, Montse Watkins’s is not dating anyone.

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Watkins’ biography is being written and the documentary “Montse Watkins: Kamakura Tales” being filmed by the journalist and documentary filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle, an initiative sponsored by the researcher Elena Gallego Andrada.

Facts & Trivia

Nada Ranked on the list of most popular Journalist. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Spain. Montse Watkins celebrates birthday on August 27 of every year.

Top Facts about Montse Watkins

1. Montse Watkins is a multilingual author, editor, translator and journalist.
2. She has published over 30 books in different languages.
3. Watkins has translated works by renowned authors such as Gabriel García Márquez.
4. She has worked for major newspapers and magazines in Spain and the UK.
5. Watkins is an expert on Spanish culture, history and literature.
6. Her book “Spain: A Literary Companion” is a comprehensive guide to Spanish literature.
7. Watkins has won several awards for her writing and translation work.
8. She holds a degree in English Philology from the University of Barcelona.
9. Watkins currently resides in London where she continues to write and translate.
10. Her latest book “The Olive Groves of Belchite” explores the impact of the Spanish Civil War on rural communities.