The 11th edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival kicks off tomorrow, August 24 at Fort St Elmo, Valletta, at 8pm.
Twelve writers from eight countries are reading in the festival, which also features Maltese and foreign poetry, films, two Maltese jazz bands, a book stall, a book binding stand, and drinks and food by Ġugar. Entrance to all events is free.
The authors participating in this year’s event are Samantha Barendson (France), Roja Chamankar (Iran), the Cuban-born Rodolfo Häsler who lives in Barcelona, Elias Khoury (Lebanon), Ciwanmerd Kulek (Kurdistan/Turkey), Marc Nair (Singapore), Abderrahim Sail (Morocco), and Joe P. Galea, Daniel Massa, Rita Saliba, Mark Vella, and Abigail Ardelle Zammit from Malta.
Readings will be mostly in Maltese and English, but some 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 the Malta LAF Literary Translation Workshop led by Keith Borg and Nadia Mifsud. They will be translating each other’s works and reading some of these translations during the festival.
Some of the literature read during the festival will be suited for solely an adult audience.
A number of pre-festival events have also been organised, including an open mic poetry session taking place tonight, with the participation of writers from the Literary Europe Live platform who will be in Malta for the Festival. American-born, Scottish-based poet JL Williams will also take to the stage. This event is being held at Maori Bar, Triq il-Lanċa, on the Valletta sea front and starts at 9pm.
The festival is organised by Inizjamed and will be held tomorrow, Thursday 25, Friday 26 and Saturday August 27. Inizjamed is a network partner of Literature Across Frontiers which coordinates the Literary Europe Live platform (funded by the EU’s Creative Europe programme) of which the festival forms part.
For more information on the festival, log on to Facebook or visit inizjamedmalta.wordpress.com.
■ The 2016 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival and the Malta LAF translation workshop are being held with the support of Arts Council Malta, Heritage Malta, Valletta 2018 Foundation, Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, the Fortress Builders – Fortifications Interpretation Centre, Spazju Kreattiv, and Highlight Arts. The festival is the recipient of the EFFE Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe label.