While honouring Malta’s best literary works, this year’s National Book Prize also highlighted the growing drive to export local literature by making it available in other languages.

“Translation in its present state is fairly new to Maltese literature. In recent years, there has been great interest in translating works in Maltese into English, or even other languages,” said Prof. Clare Vassallo, one of the nine judges for this year’s National Book Prize.

The winner of the Literary Work: The Novel Category, was Immanuel Mifsud, who received a €5,000 grant, courtesy of the Malta Arts Council’s Cultural Export Fund, to finance the translation of the winning text Jutta Heim into a foreign language.

Prof. Vassallo said that awarding such a prize was a first for the National Book Council yet it was the way forward.

“There is this drive to export literature. From a small number of readers, authors are able to share their work with the rest of the world. It is a new way of building upon what is national and local.”

Another trend which had been gaining momentum for some years now was that of having works based on characters and their perceptions of life abroad.

“That is another interesting angle that has become popular with local authors. We no longer just have books about life in Malta but also about life in Brussels or Paris, for instance, as seen through the eyes of a Maltese character,” Prof. Vassallo said.

Many readers could relate to such scenarios, she pointed out, as the number of people living in other European countries had increased.

During the prize-giving ceremony held on Saturday at Castille, certificates were handed out to all shortlisted authors and their publishers. Winners in every category received a trophy, certificate and a €1000 prize.

The winners

Literary Work: Novel Category
• Jutta Heim by Immanuel Mifsud (Klabb Kotba Maltin)

Literary Work: Short Stories Category
• Kulħadd ħalla isem warajh by Clare Azzopardi (Merlin Publishers)

Literary Work: Poetry Category
• Taħt il-kpiepel t’għajnejja by Maria Grech Ganado (Klabb Kotba Maltin)

General Research Category
• The Maltese Nineteenth-Century Notary and His Archives by Michael Refalo (Book Distributors Limited)

Historiographic Research Category
• The Social and Religious History of a Maltese Parish: St. Mary’s Qrendi in the Eighteenth Century by Frans Ciappara (Malta University Press)

Translation Category
• Salammbo by Paul Zahra (Self-published)

Prize for the Best Book Production
• The Maltese Bestiary by Merlin Publishers

Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Maltese Literature
• Maria Grech Ganado