When he was young, Francesc Arnó i Santos (Barcelona, 1909-2011) earned a living in graphic arts. He worked in a printing house and he was able to work in various workshops, including those of the actor Josep Santpere. Later on, he worked as a typesetter in the printing house López —where publications such as La Campana de Gràcia and L’Esquella de la Torratxa were published— and in various newspapers of that time: La Nau, L’Opinió, La Humanitat and Última Hora. Thanks to masters like Cèsar-August Jordana and Pompeu Fabra, he was named professor in Catalan, a title that allowed him to work as a proofreader for the publishing companies Barcino and Proa. He proofreaded translations into Catalan of works like Anna Karènina, by Lev Tolstoy (translated by Andreu Nin), Germinal, by Zola (translated by Alfons Maseras) or Dues o tres gràcies, by Aldous Huxley (translated by Maria Teresa Vernet).
When the war started, he joined the division 44 división, which was to fight at the front by the Ebro River. He soon started editing the only newspaper from the war-front, the weekly publication La 44. He later fled to France. After living in the concentration camps of Sant Cebrià and Bacarès, he resided in Brittany for a while and finally he settled in Paris. There, he contributed to El Poble Català and the magazine Revista de Catalunya. In 1940 he went to Argentina, where he worked in various publishing houses, studied Journalism and stage direction, and also worked as a lecturer. Arnó was an active participant in the main initiatives of the Catalan community in exile. He taught Catalan language, contributed to Catalunya, Ressorgiment, Galeuzca and L’Avenç. He was part of the council Consell de la Col·lectivitat Catalana, the board of the Jocs Florals de la Llengua Catalana and the delegation of the presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya for many years.
Regarding dramatic arts, he organised Catalan poetry readings in the theatre named Ateneo, he was co-founder of the Teatro del Centro and he adapted several drama works. For almost thirty years, he directed and organised a series of representations of the drama company of the Casal de Catalunya. Both from Argentina and later on from Barcelona, he translated and adapted numerous drama volumes from very diverse backgrounds and in very diverse languages. He was keen on theatre of the absurd and on innovative denounce works.
The research group Grup d’Estudi de la Traducció Catalana Contemporània has published several of his previously unpublished translations: La guineu i el raïm, Tragèdia de per riure, Rinoceront, La lliçó and El rei s’està morint.
Eugène Ionesco 
Rinoceront. El rei s’està morint. La lliçó
Translated by Francesc Arnó
Edited by Carles Biosca and Judit Fontcuberta
Editorial Punctum
Collection «Versions», 1, 2011
174 p.
Guilherme Figueiredo 
La guineu i el raïm. Tragèdia de per riure
Translated by Francesc Arnó
Edited by Carles Biosca and Judit Fontcuberta
Editorial Punctum
Collection «Versions», 3, 2013
113 p.