With preparations underway for the Malta Book Festival being held in November, the National Book Council has announced the first details of its official programme of events.
The programme will as always feature conferences on themes of literary and sociopolitical importance, book and author presentations, book launches, fun activities for children, readings and much more.
Taking place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC) in Valletta from the 8th till the 12th November, the Malta Book Festival will be open to the public morning and evenings, including all day on both Saturday and Sunday.
During the five days of the Festival, members of the public will be invited to visit the grand hall of the historic hospital of the Knights of St John to be treated to the biggest and most popular book event in the cultural calendar of the island.
There will be numerous stands representing both local and foreign publishers, bookshops, distributors and NGOs.
The NBC said that most of these participants have also been preparing events with literary themes, including presentations of new publications and their authors, dramatic performances and discussions.
The Book Festival aims to promote reading and literacy, promoting books as a medium of learning and enjoyment, engaging the public in intelligent discussion with writers and experts in various areas of study and academic interest, creating fun activities for both the young and the old, and giving a space for publishers and other cultural agents to present their work to the public.
The Festival will be inaugurated on Tuesday, the 7th with the Terramaxka National Book Prize for Children’s Books.
Then on Wednesday, the 8th, the Festival will open with a conference on the Definition of Truth in Fiction and Non-Fiction which will offer the adult public the chance to engage with five brilliant contemporary minds who are among this year’s special guests: Rosie Goldsmith, the renowned BBC journalist, the US born and UK raised novelist and poet Ros Barber, French novelist Gilbert Sinoué, Kuwaiti poet Shahd Al Shammari and local author Alex Vella Gera. Another special guest for this year is Ahmad Said Abdel Moneim, a renowned Arab publisher who will be giving a talk on subversive literature in the Arab world.
There will be an event to honour last year’s winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award as is now customary. Author, poet and playwright Mario Azzopardi was awarded the 2016 prize for his extensive contribution to local literature and culture not just as a writer but also for his work in the fields of cultural journalism and literary criticism.
Azzopardi was one of the founders of the Moviment Qawmien Letterarju, a revolutionary literary movement that played a crucial role in motivating Maltese authors to move away from parochialism and traditional folkloristic themes to treat topics of current social relevance.
It will feature a short film on Azzopardi, an interview with the personality and readings of excerpts from some of his important works. This will take place on Friday, which will be the Festival’s Poetry Day.
NBC will also on Friday, be organising a second event in collaboration with the Maltese Poets’ Association, where apart from selected readings, the winners of the Mons. Amante Buontempo Poetry Contest 2017 will be announced. Publishers such as Horizons will also be setting up events related to poetry with meetings with poets and more readings.
The Festival will as usual, include a thematic exhibition, to be housed within the Perello’s Suite of the Mediterranean Conference Centre.
This will consist of an art exhibition in different media – paintings, photography, digital art – inspired by works of Maltese literature will be open to the public for the entire duration of the Festival and the works will be on sale.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings will see students attending the Festival, and activities such as dramatic performances based on the winning titles of this year’s Terramaxka Book Prize will be prepared for them.
There will be actors dressed up as well-known literary figures who will interact with the young visitors as they guide them through the stands and different features of the Festival. Students will be given a €3 voucher to encourage them to buy a book for themselves.
The Festival will draw to a close on Saturday evening with a highlight event: the short film premiere in Temi Zammit Hall at MCC.
This year’s winner of the NBC PBS Short Film Contest is the company Mitholma of Charles Stroud, who will be adapting Joe Friggieri’s short story Dritt Ghall-Punt from the collection of short stories Nismaghhom Jghidu (Kite Group, 2016).
The director and the renowned author of story will be present at the event and they will engage the public in a discussion on film adaptation.
The NBC said that all the special guests to the Festival, including local author Alex Vella Gera, will be the focus of events dedicated to their work. Rosie Goldsmith will also be leading a workshop on journalism on Wednesday, which, it said, should be of immense interest to both journalists and members of the public.
The public is urged to follow the NBC website [1] and facebook on more updates on the Festival.