MARTIN DAVIES

Martin Davies (Liverpool, 1961) studied history at Christ Church, Oxford and librarianship and information studies at Newcastle Polytechnic. He succumbed to the spell of Ibiza and its fascinating culture during two cycling holidays in 1992, and settled on the island the following year. Prolonged rambles and friendship with Rolph Blakstad and members of the group TEHP (Taller d’Estudis de l’Hàbitat Pitiús) brought him into close contact with traditional Pityusan architecture, and in 1997 he completed a full-length study on this subject. Since establishing Barbary Press in 2000, writing and translating have gone hand-in-hand with publishing and editing, witnessed by nine popular titles on vintage photography, travel, archaeology, architecture, history, birdlife and early tourism, as well as an illustrated children’s tale. Over several decades he has contributed two hundred articles on Ibizan history, culture and personalities to various books, journals and websites, including the Enciclopèdia d’Eivissa i Formentera, Liveibiza.com, Secret Walks Ibiza North/South, Arquitectura y espacio rural en Ibiza, Dutch Writers and Painters in the Pityuses, Ibiza Updated, Pacha magazine, Quadern del TEHP, Ibiza 365, IbizaNOW, and Ibicasa. In recent years he has given a dozen talks and podcasts on Ibiza’s Jewish history, the enigmatic goddess Tanit (or Tinnit), Ibiza’s architecture, wells and irrigations systems, Elmyr de Hory and the modern myths that surround these riddling subjects.