Mercè Ibarz (Saidí, Catalonia, 1954) is a writer, cultural journalist and essayist. She has published, among other titles, La terra retirada and La palmera de blat, joined together in this volume with Labor inacabada; the short stories collections A la ciutat en obres and Febre de carrer; the novels No parlis de mi quan me’n vagi and Vine com estàs; the essays L’amic de la Finca Roja and Rodoreda: exili i desig, a biography of Mercè Rodoreda. She is a contributor for Vilaweb and El País.