The Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival is back, kicking off on Sunday and running until August 24. The 14th edition of the week-long festival, organised by Inizjamed, will conclude with three nights, starting from August 22 to 24 at Fort St Elmo, Valletta. Entrance to all events, which start at 8pm, is free.
Twelve writers from nine countries are reading at the festival, which also features Maltese and foreign poetry films, Maltese musicians, a book stall, a book-binding stand by Kotba Calleja, drinks and a selection of food provided by Core Green Organic and Fair Trade.
The participating authors are Rasha Abbas (Syria/Germany), Astrid Alben (UK), Rena Balzan (Malta), Antoine Cassar (Malta), Yolanda Castaño (Galicia), Sampurna Chattarji (India), Elizabeth Grech (Malta), Eric Ngalle Charles (Cameroon/Wales), Yolanda Pantin (Venezuela), Davide Rondoni (Italy), Habib Tengour (Algeria/France) and Loranne Vella (Malta). Readings will be mostly in Maltese and English, but some short works will also be read in their original language.
The writers will be in Malta throughout the week of the festival to take part in translation workshops led by Nadia Mifsud. They will be translating each other’s works and reading some of these translations during the festival.
Two discussions will be held on Sunday and August 20 at The Undercroft and Valletta Contemporary, both in Valletta. The first discussion will tackle the theme ‘Is Universality a Myth? The Case for Literature’, while the second will follow with the theme ‘(Not) Maintaining the Status Quo’. For both discussions, different invited authors will be on the panel. There will also be time for questions from the audience.
On August 21, an Open Mic will be held at the Valletta Contemporary. The public is invited to participate and share its own work with the audience and the invited authors. It will also be an opportunity to meet the authors.
The festival will be then concluded through three nights at Fort St Elmo. Four authors will read their work every night together with their translated work concluded during the workshops. An interview with one of the authors will also be held every night.
On August 23, More or Less Theatre will be holding a session of storytelling with kids at the same space of the festival.
During one night at the Nights at the Fort, a poetry film will be premiered. Following a call for proposals, the group Cine Laurea are working on a poetry film which will present Joe Friggieri’s poem Natura Morta. The poetry film will be premiered during one of the nights at the Fort.
A musical component will also be present every night. The band Tact will be playing on August 22 and 23 while the band Djun will be playing on August 24.
Inizjamed is organising this festival with the support of the Malta Council of Arts and the Cultural Partnership Agreement. The festival is also collaborating with Literature Across Frontiers, Creative Europe and L-Għaqda tal-Malti – Università. More information is available on the Inizjamed Facebook page (www.facebook.com/inizjamed), the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2019 even on Facebook and at inizjamed.org.
Photo: Katel Delia