American lecturer to write war book about Malta

Malta's ability to withstand the Italian and German onslaught during the Second World War was staggering, according to US lecturer William Buchanan.

"People need to be made aware that there were other sterling occasions in history that did not involve mainly American and British players.

"The battle of Malta is one of those occasions," he said.

Prof. Buchanan, who lectures library science at Clarion University in Pennsylvania, is in Malta on a seven-month sabbatical with his wife Mary, a librarian, and their two children.

Some time ago, Prof. Buchanan started looking for books about the war aimed at children and young adults aged 12 to 15.

During his stay here, he will be interviewing people who were children during the war to write a book about their experiences.

There is a lot of literature about the war from the perspective of other cultures for children and young adults - certainly the Jewish and the American perspective.

"But there was none that I could find that focused on the battle of Malta, which is a riveting story.

"I think the world out there knows a lot about the Battle of Britain because it was so dramatic but, for whatever reason, there is not nearly as much information available to the reading public about the battle of Malta.

"Although the field of conflict was smaller, the battle of Malta was equally dramatic. The role Malta played was certainly similar in importance to the battle of Britain. The book would fill that gap".

Prof. Buchanan's original idea was to write historical fiction based on a variety of people's experiences homogenised into fictional characters.

He talked to such a person the other day who recounted how his father would take him up on the roof of the house to watch dog fights.

Planes coming from Sicily to Malta used to machine gun people they saw on roofs and the people, seeing the approaching planes, used to cover their heads with their hands and duck.

"Lilian Sciberras and Carmen Hardy had been fabulous about making contacts with people with these stories.

"The Maltese have just been fabulously gracious. Their willingness to talk to me and open up and see me as a friend made me feel very good".

He hopes to accomplish most of the ground work during the sabbatical.

He has done a lot of reading about the battle of Malta and he will be weaving all that together to find a story line that best fits his idea.

"I hope to get an historical novel out of this which would be more appealing to a young adult audience than a non-fiction book.

"I am hoping that by the time I go back to the teaching faculty in late summer, I will have the book well under way."

The book's major selling point will be a story that has not been written before. Most books about the war for young adults are consistently good sellers.

There is a built-in market in terms of the interest of people in that particular subject.

"The book will educate people in geography as well. Half the people I talked to about my work in Malta - college graduates who have written books themselves - did not know where Malta is.

"We feel very safe here. People have more of a sense of being in control, knowing what is going on around them as opposed to a huge country like America.

"It is good to be in a child friendly, very safe country.

"In America, most homes have a basement and that is typically where the laundry room is. In a lot of Maltese homes, the laundry room is on the roof.

"My son was helping Carmen hang the clothes a couple of days ago and he told her that her house was upside down.

"Coming to a place where you can visit the entire country is another amazing thing about Malta."

Prof. Buchanan may be contacted at buchanan@clarion.edu.