Quaderns Crema Reissues Expanded Anthology of Catalan Journalist Irene Polo

Quaderns Crema has reissued *La fascinació pel periodisme*, a major anthology compiling more than 100 texts by the Catalan reporter Irene Polo, expanding it significantly from its original 2004 edition.

The new version grows from over 300 pages to nearly 500, with added biographical details curated by editors Glòria Santa-Maria and Pilar Tur. They confirm Polo's birth on 27 November 1908 in Barcelona and trace her early career, starting as a publicist for Gaumont in the city before sporadic contributions from 1927 to outlets like *El Día Gráfico*, *Jueves Cinematográficos*, *El Cine* and *Información Cinematográfica*. She entered general journalism in 1930 with *La Veu de Catalunya*, then contributed to *L'Instant*, *Les Notícies*, *L'Opinió*, *La Humanitat*, *La Rambla*, *La Publicitat*, *Gran Proyector*, *Imatges* and *Mirador*.

Polo specialised in social reports, such as unrest in the Sallent mines and begging in Barcelona; political chronicles covering the drafting of the Estatut de Núria, the 1932 Catalan parliamentary elections and the 1934 trial of Lluís Companys over the October Events; cultural pieces on figures like Buster Keaton; crime stories including the Teresita Guitart case linked to the Vampira de Barcelona; and interviews with Pablo Casals, Pío Baroja, Josep Maria de Sagarra and Paulino Uzcudun. She also pioneered a distinctive style for failed interviews—such as attempts with singer Pastora Imperio and politician Francesc Cambó—turning unproductive encounters into engaging narratives.

The anthology highlights her 1933 *Mirador* dispatches from Andorra, covering the pivotal 31 August elections amid intense media attention. Polo profiled key figures including acting síndic Pere Torres, former síndic Roc Pallarès (dismissed by Corts in June 1933), Colonel Baulard, deputy veguer Joseph Carbonell, Mestre Orelleta, episcopal veguer Enric de Llorens and La Seu d'Urgell mayor Enric Canturri. Her pieces capture the summer's heightened scrutiny, the chaotic voting day—won by pro-order forces, securing Torres's position—and the gendarmes' withdrawal in October before the border closure. She memorably skewered a female *New York Times* reporter as "red, freckled, curly-haired and knowledgeable, frivolous and youthful, who paints her lips like a landscape and flirts with all the Spanish journalists".

Polo (1908-1942) died by suicide in Buenos Aires on 3 April 1942, shortly after arriving there ahead of the Spanish Civil War with Margarita Xirgú's theatre company, amid what appears to have been unrequited affection. The editors could not fully clarify the circumstances of her death. Polo lived just 34 years, ranking among interwar Catalan journalism greats like Just Cabot, Josep Maria Planes and Aurora Bertrana.

Further Polo material appears in Renacimiento's *Una intrusa en la prensa*, gathering 77 Spanish-language articles from 1927-1931, while Àngels Sánchez's monologue *Coses que només saps quan estàs morta* features her as protagonist.