The 2024 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival organised by Inizjamed will be held between August 28 and 31. All events are going to be held at the Valletta Design Cluster and the MCAST Campus in Paola.

The festival will feature seven authors from five countries: Malika Booker, a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian parentage; Irene Chias, an Italian novelist residing in Malta; David Aloisio from Malta; Mario Cardona, also from Malta; Raymond Antrobus from the UK; Josep Pedrals from Catalonia; and Maja Ručević from Croatia.

Readings will be mostly in Maltese and English, but some short works will also be read in their original language.

Rounding off the experience will be the jazz band the Hinge Project, led by Jes Psaila, food and drinks by POPP and a book stall featuring the works of the guest authors and more.

The authors participating in this year’s edition of the festival. The festival visuals and promotional material are designed by Naomi Gatt.

Past and upcoming events

On August 2, a reading for the elderly was organised at St Vincent De Paule. Priscilla Cassar led the closed event during which Mario Cardona read his poems accompanied by musicians Carol Ciantar and Beatriz Tomás.

On August 8 and 9, workshops for children were held in SkolaSajf centres in Attard and Qormi. These were led by David Aloisio.

On August 28, Malika Booker will deliver a masterclass at 4pm at the Valletta Design Cluster.

The first festival evening on August 29 will be a multilingual open mic event with the participation of the guest authors and other special guests at the Valletta Design Cluster. The event is free of charge and doors open at 7.30pm.

On August 30, an event will be held with Claudio Berochia, an interdisciplinary artist from Italy, at Spazju Kreattiv at 7pm. This event is free of charge.

The festival will kick off that evening at 8pm. The writers reading are Cardona, Chias, Pedrals and Ručević. The night will also feature performances by the Hinge Project, featuring musicians Jes Psaila, Mark Attard, Luke Briffa and André Micallef. Tickets from showshappening.com.

On August 31, there will be readings by Aloisio, Booker and Antrobus. The night will also feature performances by the Hinge Project. Some of the readings are better suited for mature audiences. Tickets from showshappening.com.

The authors will be in Malta throughout the week of the festival to take part in the Literary Translation Workshop led by Nadia Mifsud and Keith Borg. They will be translating each other’s works with the translations being read on August 30 and 31.

The 2024 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival and the translation workshop are being held in partnership with Arts Council Malta and with the support of MCAST, APS and Versopolis. The festival is also supported by Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, Valletta Cultural Agency, Valletta Design Cluster and Ulysses’ Shelter 3 (co-financed by the EU).

More information is available on Inizjamed’s Instagram account and Facebook page, on the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2024 event page, as well as at inizjamed.org. Most of the events are free unless indicated otherwise. Tickets for the final nights may be purchased from showshappening.com.