Readers from all over Malta and Gozo keep surging to the Malta Book Festival year after year, writes Simona Cassano.

Book festivals the world over come in many shapes and sizes. In the Maltese islands, the Malta Book Festival is a treasured autumn tradition that evolved from the 1979 Malta Book Fair into a fully-fledged book festival that celebrates the book culture in all its forms. The festival is now truly a 21st century thought-exchange forum that seeks to promote reading by showcasing the publishing accomplishments of poets, writers and publishers.

With every passing year the festival grows in popularity. The largest annual literary event in Malta, it draws more than 40,000 attendees to the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta each November. All of the workshops, lectures, readings, performances and panel discussions are free and open to the public, and the festival hosts a wealth of events revolving around books that can keep people from all walks of life engaged over its five days.

As elsewhere, the advent of the smartphones and other screens left their mark on the Maltese publishing industry and the book may have seemed on its way to devolve from cultural significance to inevitable obsolescence. But the book is more than holding its own in the Maltese islands, thanks in no small measure to the Malta Book Festival. 

The event celebrates the medium and its power to challenge, transport and transform us as individuals, as well as to bring us together in conversation as a community. Connecting with people that are passionate and harnessing their energy shaped an increasingly successful event. Dedicated people and organisations like the National Book Council have striven to bring authors and readers together through a shared love of the written and spoken word – a  new generation of practitioners who have been using new ways to share, and promote the excitement and knowledge that come with reading. 

While the publishing industry may fret about the state of literature and low book sale figures, readers from all over Malta and Gozo keep surging to the Malta Book Festival year after year. They have no time for despair: they leisurely browse through the latest titles on display; make their way to one of the activity areas and event halls to enjoy a poetry reading, or to see the premiere of a film based on their favourite short story; queue up to get a copy signed by their favourite author; and watch a show based on National Book Prize winning books. Don’t tell these folks that books are dead!

Malta is building a strong literary heritage, and the National Book Council is embracing the challenge of investing in sound reading habits across all generations

For those invested in books, declining reading rates, the rise of emojis and the supremacy of video can be truly daunting. And yet, even the most cynical cultural observer is bound to be heartened by the size of the crowd attending the Malta Book Festival and the enthusiasm of the educators active in schools across Malta and Gozo who make it a point to bring their students to the festival year after year. Dedicated readers themselves, they are making it an annual event for their school, thus fostering in their students the love for books. 

Readers, especially those in the early stages of making lifelong companions out of books, need stories with characters they can relate to. At the Malta Book Festival they can participate in activities where these characters are celebrated, and where students can book-browse independently. In addition, transport subsidies and free book vouchers for every student attending the festival with their school make sure that the visit does not add a burden on household budgets. 

This year the National Book Council has already received over 2,000 pre-bookings from schools. So when you are tempted to define Maltese readers as an increasingly uncommon breed of silent and usually solitary beings, think again: at the Malta Book Festival reading a book is also a group activity. Through the digital era, Malta is building a strong literary heritage, and the National Book Council is embracing the challenge of investing in sound reading habits across all generations. Because reading matters. 

The Malta Book Festival

The Malta Book Festival, held yearly, is the most important book event in the Maltese calendar. It is organised and managed by the National Book Council. Visit the Malta Book Festival 2019 between  November 6 and 10. 

To find out more visit ktieb.org. mt/national-book-festival/

Simona Cassano is senior manager, National Book Council.