In the latest edition of ‘Mill-Campus ta’ Ghawdex,’ the Gozo University Group’s radio programme, there is an interview with Jonathan Mintoff – Acting President for the Gozo university Group, together with an overview about Gozitian writer Laurent Ropa’s life and work.

Laurent Ropa, 1891-1967, hailed from Xaghra, but emigrated to Bone, Algiers with his parents at the age of two. There he studied at the Ecole Normale and eventually became a school teacher.

An error in formal papers changed his name from Rapa to Ropa. In 1913 he obtained French nationality and later served as an officer in World War I and was wounded in battle.

It was then that he met his wife, Marguerite, who was carrying out duties as a volunteer nurse. After the war the family took up residence in Paris and he was appointed head of the village school of Sille-le-Guillaume. He never returned to his island home.

A bust of the Gozitan writer can be found in the Villa Rundle Gardens, Victoria. The monument was realised through the work of Klabb Kotba Maltin.

Mill-Campus ta’Ghawdex is aired every Friday at 8.30pm with a repetition the following Saturday from 12.30pm onwards on Campus FM 103.7 FM.

The link for the radio programme, which is broadcast in Maltese, is available here.

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