Laura Borràs i Castanyer (; born 5 October 1970) is a Spanish philologist, academic and politician from

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

who was the

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of the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

between 2021 and 2022, when she was suspended as member of the Parliament of Catalonia under allegations of corruption. Born in 1970 in

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in the city of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Borràs studied Catalan philology at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

(UB) before becoming an academic. She taught at UB and the

Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia (; ) is a private Open supported learning, open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish language, Spanish and English languag ...

. Between 2013 and 2018 she was director of the

Institució de les Lletres Catalanes Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (Institute of Catalan Letters) is a Spanish organization based in Barcelona. An entity of the Government of Catalonia, it was founded in 1937 by intellectuals who were loyal to the Republic during the Spanish C ...

. Borràs was a member of

from January 2018 to May 2019 for the pro-

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

Together for Catalonia

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

. Between June 2018 and March 2019 she was the

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

. She was a member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

between May 2019 and March 2021.

Early life

Borràs was born on 5 October 1970 in

. She received a degree in Catalan

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

(1993) and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in Romance philology (1997) from the

(UB). She received a European doctorate in 1997 and a special Ph.D. in 1998.

Career

Borràs joined UB in 1995 as an associate lecturer in the Department of Romance. She was a lecturer in the university's Department of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from 1998 to 2013. She was the university's academic director of the master's degree in literature in the digital era. Borràs was also professor of humanities and philology studies at the

(UOC) from 1999 and 2007 and professor of languages and cultures from 2007 to 2009. She was a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

from 2010 to 2012. Borràs is a member of the

Electronic Literature Organization The Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) is a nonprofit organization "established in 1999 to promote and facilitate the writing, publishing, and reading of electronic literature". It hosts annual conferences, awards annual prizes for works of a ...

's International Literary Advisory Board, a member and lecturer of the European Studies Doctorate Program in Literary Interzones,

Erasmus Mundus The European Union's Erasmus Mundus programme (named after Erasmus, the Renaissance scholar) aims to enhance quality in higher education through scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students f ...

Joint Doctorate (

University of Bergamo The University of Bergamo (; acronym: UniBG) is an Italian public university located in Bergamo, Italy. It was founded on 11 December 1968 and is organized in seven departments, three campuses and forty-one degree courses. History The University ...

) and the Erasmus Intensive Program (

University of Paris 8 Paris 8 University (), or usually the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis or Paris 8, is a public university in the Greater Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is base ...

). She has been a jury member for the Sant Jordi Prize, the Ramon Llull Prize and the Catalan Letters Prize. Borràs was in charge of the 2012 centenary celebrations of Joan Sales i Vallès,

Pere Calders Pere Calders i Rossinyol (; 29 September 1912 – 21 July 1994) was a Catalan writer and cartoonist. Biography He became known at the beginning of the 1930s for his drawings, articles and stories which were published in newspapers and magaz ...

and Avel·lí Artís-Gener (Tísner) organised by the

Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

and

City of Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

. She helped design the website celebrating the 2013 centenary of

Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet from Spain. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home t ...

. She was also in charge of the celebration of

Caterina Albert Caterina Albert i Paradís (L'Escala, Spain, 11 September 1869 — 27 January 1966), better known by her pen name Víctor Català, was a Catalan writer in Catalan and Spanish who participated in the Modernisme movement and was the author o ...

(Víctor Català) (2016) and

Montserrat Abelló i Soler Montserrat Abelló i Soler (1 February 1918 – 9 September 2014)
was a Catalan

Borràs was director of the

, an agency that promotes the work of Catalan authors, from January 2013 to January 2018. Govern de Catalunya foto oficial 2018

Borràs contested the 2017 regional election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

c (JuntsxCat)

candidate in the

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

. At the election Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan Parliament. On 19 May 2018 newly elected

Quim Torra Joaquim Torra i Pla (; born 28 December 1962), known as Quim Torra, is a Catalans, Catalan lawyer and journalist from Spain. He served as President of the Government of Catalonia from 17 May 2018 to 28 September 2020, when the Supreme Court of S ...

nominated a new government in which

Lluís Puig Lluís Puig i Gordi (Terrassa, 18 October 1959) is an art director, dancer, musician, folklorist and Spanish politician from Catalonia. He was Minister of Culture of Catalonia, the department in charge of the libraries, language and heritage p ...

, who was living in exile, was to be

. However, the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

condemned the inclusion of jailed/exiled politicians in the government as provocative and refused to approve Torra's appointments or to revoke

direct rule In political science, direct rule is when an imperial or central power takes direct control over the legislature, executive and civil administration of an otherwise largely self-governing territory. Examples Chechnya In 1991, Chechen separat ...

. Faced with this opposition Torra announced a new government on 29 May 2018 without the jailed/exiled politicians. Borràs was to be Minister of Culture in the new government. She was sworn in on 2 June 2018 at the

Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya The Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia ( Catalan: ''Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya'', ; Spanish: ''Palacio de la Generalidad de Cataluña'') is a historic palace in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency ...

. In March 2019 it was announced that Borràs would be stepping down as Minister of Culture in order to contest the general election. She contested the 2019 general election as a JxCat candidate in the

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

. She is a member of the

National Call for the Republic National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(Crida Nacional per la República)'s political council. In November 2020 she ran in the primaries of Junts per Catalunya to run for the Presidency of the Generalitat in the future elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on February 14, 2021, in which she was elected. She was elected President of the Parliament of Catalonia on 12 March 2021. After her indictment for corruption allegations, she was suspended from the Catalan Parliament in July, 2022. The parliament bylaws mandate a suspension of all members under formal judicial investigation. As a result, Borràs stepped down as the president of the parliament on July 28. She was formally suspended on June 1, 2023.

Conviction for corruption

Borràs is accused of fraudulently selecting a supplier for services worth €330,442, as well as prevarication, administrative fraud and falsifying documents. The charges, which Borràs has denied, date back to the period between 2013 and 2018 when she was at the head of the Institute of Catalan Letters, a public body in charge of promoting Catalan literature. According to investigators, there are signs that Borràs could have fraudulently allocated public contracts to a friend and avoided a public tender by splitting the service into various ones that did not surpass the minimum threshold over which tenders are obligatory. As mandated by the bylaws of the Parliament of Catalonia, Borràs was suspended as a member and also as its president, on 28 July 2022. All major parties except for Together for Catalonia voted for her suspension. On 30 March 2023, the Catalan High Court sentenced Laura Borràs to four and a half years in prison for corruption during her time as the head of the Catalan Institute of Letters (ILC). The Court also disqualifies her from holding public office for 13 years and hands down a €36,000 fine. On 12 February 2025, she lost the appeal before the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the Supreme court, highest court in the Spain, Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political p ...

. and the sentence was confirmed.

Personal life

Borràs is married to Xavier Botet and has a daughter, Marta.

Published works

Borràs is an electronic literature scholar, who served on the

's editorial collective for the Electronic Literature Collection Volume 2. She has written several books and articles on contemporary literature, theatre, cinema and literature, including: * ''Per què Llegir els Clàssics Avui'', (2011, Ara Llibres; ) * ''Dos Amants com Nosaltres'' (2012, Ara Llibres; ) * ''Under Construction: Literatures Digitals i Aproximacions Teòriques'' (2012, Edicions UIB; ) (ed.) * ''Clàssics Moderns'' (2013, Ara Llibres; ) * ''La Literatura en un Tuit'' (2017, Símbol Editors)

Electoral history

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Borras, Laura 1970 births 21st-century philologists Academics of Kingston University Academics from Catalonia Philologists from Catalonia Writers from Catalonia Culture ministers of Catalonia Independent politicians in Catalonia Living people Members of the 13th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 14th Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 12th Parliament of Catalonia National Call for the Republic politicians Politicians from Barcelona Together for Catalonia (2017) politicians Torra Government University of Barcelona alumni Academic staff of the University of Barcelona Women members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Women members of the Parliament of Catalonia Spanish women philologists Electronic literature critics