Verżjoni bil-Malti

The writers will also be taking part in the LAF Malta Literary Translation Workshop 2010
 

Design

Pierre Portelli and Darren Tanti

Coordination

Adrian Grima, supported by Clare Azzopardi, Darren Tanti, and Inizjamed

Alexandra Büchler is director of Literature Across Frontiers.

Inizjamed is a registered voluntary non-governmental cultural organization founded in 1998 in Malta that is committed towards the regeneration of culture and artistic expression in the Maltese Islands and actively promotes a greater awareness of the cultures of the Mediterranean. Inizjamed is a secular, non-partisan organization that acknowledges that every generation must seek to create its own language and both respond to realities of its day and look beyond them.

Festival Programme - Ġnien il-Mistrieħ, il-Furjana, 8.00pm

Book for Writing Workshop with Miquel Desclot

Mediterranean Literature Festival in Former Floriana Cemetery
9-11 September, 8.00pm

Youssef Rakha

Top writers and musicians from seven countries, including gritty Welsh novelist Niall Griffiths, Maltese iconic poet Victor Fenech, and Lebanese novelist Hyam Yared, will perform at this year’s fifth edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival on Thursday 9, Friday 10 and Saturday 11th September, 2010, at the Garden of Rest in Floriana, close to the Floriana Central Public Library. All evenings will feature live jazz or alternative music, wine and food. Short films from the Zebra Poetry Film Festival, most of which are in English or with English subtitles, will be shown on Thursday and Friday and presented by Boris Nitzsche. All readings, which are meant for a mature audience, start at 8.00pm, and entrance to all events is free.

The poems and prose will be read mainly in Maltese and English, but also in the native languages of the various writers. The writers reading on Thursday are popular Maltese novelist Ġużè Stagno, Sicilian poet, singer, musician and actor Biagio Guerrera (Sicily, Italy), and the Portuguese poet and novelist born in Angola Valter Hugo Mãe who has published seven books of poetry and three novels and is included in Best European Fiction 2010. Friday’s readings will be by Maltese poet Nadia Mifsud who lives in Lyon, Egyptian poet, novelist, journalist and photographer Youssef Rakha, leading Catalan writer Miquel Desclot, and the well-known Maltese poet Victor Fenech.

The writers reading on Saturday 11th September are award-winning Gozitan novelist and short story writer Pierre J. Mejlak, Lebanese Francophone poet and novelist Hyam Yared, who confesses that “I write in French with all the influences of Arabic in which I was born," and the well-known Welsh novelist Niall Griffiths, who will also be interviewed by Dr. Albert Gatt. According to The Times of London, any fan of Trainspotting will find Grits, the first of six novels published by Niall Griffiths, “persuasive, alarming and addictive.” The Scottish council estates of Irvine Welsh “seem like Toytown when compared with Griffiths’ Aberystwyth.’

The 19th century Garden of Rest in Floriana where the festival will be held, has been restored by Din l-Art Ħelwa. This former Protestant cemetery was for the use of the British military, civil officials, members of the commercial community, and their families, but one of the most illustrious burials was not that of a British citizen but of Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1764-1829), the father of the Maltese language, who died in absolute poverty in 1829. What may be Vassalli’s own copy of his Lexicon, the dictionary of Maltese he published in Rome in 1796 containing the famous preface “Alla nazione maltese,” is on display in the hall of the Garden.

On the three nights, a free glass of wine will be offered to all those present and there will be food for sale. A book stand will be selling books by Maltese and foreign authors. Live music on Thursday and Saturday will be played by Effie Azzopardi on trumpet and his jazz band and on Friday by members of Plato's Dream Machine, with their traditional folk, punk-influenced numbers, melancholic ballads and drone-chants.
 

Inizjamed and LAF are also offering two 2-hour workshops (held in English) about writing for children by leading Catalan writer Miquel Desclot for a limited number of people. The workshop is open to writers and non-writers interested in exploring children’s literature. Interested persons are to write to clareazz@gmail.com. The two workshops, which are free of charge, will be held in the cinema at St. James Cavalier in Valletta on Tuesday 7th at 5.30pm and Thursday 9th at 2.00pm.

The Festival coincides with the fifth annual Malta LAF Literary Translation Workshop, led by Alexandra Büchler, director of Literature Across Frontiers, during which the participating writers will translate each other's works. Previous workshops have hosted writers from Algeria, Croatia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Palestine, Portugal, Slovenia, and Turkey, who translated their Maltese colleagues’ writing into their languages and whose work was in turn translated into Maltese. The first edition of this festival was held at St. James Cavalier in September 2006, and all other editions were held in Birgu. This year’s festival and literary translation workshop are the biggest to date in terms of writers and events.

This annual international literary festival, the only one to be held in Malta, is being organized by Inizjamed and Literature Across Frontiers with the support of the Culture Programme of the EU, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Institut Ramon Llull, The British Council, Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, and Delicata Wines.

More information about the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, Inizjamed and Literature Across Frontiers is available at www.inizjamed.org.

 

Adrian Grima, Coordinator, Inizjamed

Literature Across Frontiers is a programme of initiatives aiming to advance European cultural exchange in the field of literature and translation through multilateral cooperation within a network of partner organisations on activities encompassing research and analysis, publication, translator training and skills development, joint participation in international book fairs, literature festivals and other forums, organisation of larger-scale projects, as well as conferences, seminars and workshops. The programme aims to:

• advance intercultural dialogue through literature and translation within the EU and with third countries, and in particular with EU neighbours in the Mediterranean region;

• improve access to lesser-known literatures, particularly those written in less widely-used languages of Europe and underrepresented in the international arena;

• encourage greater diversity in international literary events and in the publishing of literature for all age groups;

• develop innovative approaches to literary creation, promotion, support for translation and training of literary translators working in less widely-used languages;

• act as a catalyst for new multilateral contacts, collaborations and innovative projects bringing literature into interaction with other art-forms and exploring the social and political role of writing;

• stimulate debate on relevant policy and financing at national and European level;

• create opportunities for the exchange of ideas, transfer of skills and knowledge, and sharing of experiences and resources amongst organisations and institutions active in this field.

Participants

Guest Musicians

members of

Plato's Dream Machine

Effie Azzopardi started studying music at an early age. His first important experience on stage was performing as part of the brass quartet called The Bond Horns, which together with other local bands performed on various occasions.

Effie has played the trumpet with different bands. He was involved in recordings and TV programmes and has also had the opportunity of performing in live concerts abroad.

Jazz being his favourite type of music, he currently performs with jazz quartets at different jazz venues where he enjoys playing with his friends.

Effie Azzopardi will be playing with Eric Santucci on guitar, Leonard Caruana on bass and Reuben Navarro on drums. 

The musicians in this band all play individually with other artists and in different bands.

Putting together their different musical background and styles, such as jazz, pop, rock and blues, the band hopes to give an original, enjoyable sound. They shall be performing jazz standards and a couple of Maltese popular songs with jazz arrangements.

Msida Bastion Historic Garden, FLORIANA

Extract from Heritage Fragments

by Joe Azzopardi

Published by Din l-Art Helwa 2010

The annexation of Malta to the British Empire revived the Island’s reputation as a cosmopolitan centre and its harbours further evolved as a considerable trade centre in the Mediterranean. This attracted many foreigners, some of whom died here and, of course, they were not all Roman Catholics. A large number were, in fact, Protestants from Britain and elsewhere in Europe, and smaller numbers of other Christian denominations, as well as Jews and Moslems, who could not be buried in Catholic cemeteries.

For a time, most burials of Protestants from Britain took place, in a sporadic fashion outside the Valletta bastions overlooking Msida Creek until appropriate cemeteries had been established in the area. This resulted in a conglomeration of beautiful burial grounds, alongside the already existing plague cemeteries. Unfortunately, of the Quarantine, Cholera and Greek Orthodox cemeteries, only evidence of the latter remains, and this with just a lone monument dedicated to Lady Catherine Hanley. Most of the others were cleared when the first Excelsior Hotel project began taking shape.

The only surviving cemetery in the area is the Msida Bastion Cemetery. The earliest monument recorded here dates back to 1806 but it did not become a separate consecrated cemetery until 1843 and it was hardly used after 1857, when Ta’ Braxia cemetery was opened in Pietà. So far, some 530 burials have been more or less definitively recorded, but the number must have been greater. This cemetery was for the use of the British military, civil officials and members of the commercial community, together with their families.

It was hit by a bomb in WWII, and largely abandoned for several years. Research into the history of the Msida Bastion Cemetery was first carried out by James Cannon and published, together with a detailed list of the burials, in 1990. The cemetery has now been restored by a team of dedicated volunteers from Din l-Art Helwa, who took up the work begun by Reginald Kirkpatrick. The restoration project was awarded a Europa Nostra Silver Medal in 2002.

Incidentally, one of the most illustrious burials at Msida Bastion was not that of a British citizen but of Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1764-1829), long considered the father of the Maltese language. Vassalli died in absolute poverty on 12 January 1829 aged 65. His burial here was arranged by a number of British personalities, chief among whom was the Hon John Hookham Frere (1769-1846) who met all the expenses. The facts leading to Vassalli’s entombment at Msida Bastion are rendered in the words of the Reverend C F Schlienz:

“As Mr. Vassalli never made profession of being a protestant we would have him buried in a Catholic burial place. However, when we presented him, for reasons that Vassalli had never been legally married (he could not marry regularly as he had taken minor orders) he ought therefore to be put among the dishonest at the wayside without any ceremony. To this we would not consent, and with the consent of the relict and the sister of the deceased [we] applied to Government for a licence to bury him in the Protestant burial place”.

Garden of Rest, Floriana
 

Formerly known as the Msida Bastion Cemetery, this served as a Protestant cemetery from 1806-56. It was restored over a period of ten years and was awarded the Silver Medal by Europa Nostra in 2002. A small museum was added in 2004.

This was the main Protestant cemetery in Malta for about fifty years from 1806. Records show that at least 528 people were buried here and it was more or less full in 1856 when Ta’ Braxia Cemetery was opened. The principal occupants are British servicemen, officials and businessmen and their families, some of whose ancestors still live in Malta today, as well as some Maltese.

The most famous Maltese buried here was Mikiel Anton Vassalli, known as the father of the Maltese language, who died on 12 Jan 1829, aged about 64. He was not on good terms with the local Catholic church and had translated the New Testament into Maltese against the wishes of the church. His wife was later also buried here in 1851.

The cemetery lies in the bastion formerly known as St Philip’s Bastion, part of Floriani’s outer defence works commissioned by Grand Master Antoine de Paule in 1635. On the higher ground above the bastion stood the gallows used by the Order. During World War Two the Cemetery was hit by bombs and part of the bastion wall at the far end and some graves were damaged.

The Cemetery was protected by a low wall until 1988 and much was vandalised and destroyed by wind and weather. Vegetation covered the graves and split the stones apart. In 1930 Capt Charles Zammit in his report on this cemetery commented that the great majority of the inscriptions were damaged and indecipherable. In 1988 the Minister of Education, Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici declared that the site was to be restored and opened to the public as a garden. A high wall and gate were built and extensive work was carried out by volunteers from Din l-Art Helwa. The original project leader, Mr R.G. Kirkpatrick died in 1988 and interest waned but in 1993 Dr Andy Welsh revived interest in the project and work proceeded steadily thereafter.

The restoration was awarded the Silver Medal by Europa Nostra in 2002. In 2004 a small Museum of Maltese Burial Practices was opened in the building adjacent to the garden by the Minister of Tourism and Culture Dr. Francis Zammit Dimech and Director General of the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland Mrs. Fiona Reynolds.

(from the Din l-Art Ħelwa website)

Programm tal-Festival

Jieħdu sehem

Victor Fenech li jikteb bil-Malti u bl-Ingliż, huwa wieħed mill-kittieba ewlenin tal-ġenerazzjoni ta' wara l-Indipendenza li x-xogħol tiegħu deher f'bosta pubblikazzjonijiet f'Malta u barra minn Malta. L-ewwel antoloġija li ħareġ ma' poeti oħrajn kienet Kwartetttal-1965, u l-poeżiji dehru f'seba' ġabriet oħrajn, fosthom f' Altamira, li fiha introduċa l-poeproża fil-letteratura Maltija.

Biagio Guerrera(Catania, 1965). Studia canto con Michiko Hirayama. È tra i fondatori del collettivo artistico Famiglia Sfuggita con cui nel 1992 presenta, a Santarcangelo dei Teatri, Idda, poi pubblicata nella raccolta omonima da Il Girasole (Valverde, 1997). L’amore per la musica, la poesia e il teatro lo ha portato a collaborare con Emanuele Casale, Francesco Cusa, Gianni Gebbia, David Grubbs, Carmelo Vassallo, Stefano Zorzanello. Nel 2003 pubblica, nel catalogo di Mesogea, Dalle sponde del mare bianco, con i Dounia e il poeta tunisino Moncef Ghachem con il quale continua a collaborare nel progetto quelli che bruciano la frontiera. Molto attivo come curatore e operatore culturale (Associazione Musicale Etnea, Festival Internazionale di poesia Voci del Mondo, Associazione Leggerete, Centro Culturale Zo). Sue poesie sono state pubblicate in varie riviste e antologie.

Photo by Andrew Gauci Attard

Imwieled f’Għawdex (Malta), Pierre J. Mejlak kiteb kotba għat-tfal, rumanz u ġabra ta’ stejjer qosra.

Huwa rebbieħ ta’ bosta premjijiet, fosthom il-Premju Letterarju Malti u żewġ Premji Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb.

Fl-2009 rebaħ il-kompetizzjoni Ewropea Sea of Words. L-ewwel ġabra ta’ stejjer qosra tiegħu, Qed Nistenniek Nieżla max-Xita, ħarġet fl-2009 u siltiet minnha nqraw waqt serati letterarji f’bosta bliet Ewropej.

It-tieni ġabra ta’ stejjer qosra għall-kbar ħierġa fl-2011.

(iżjed fuq pierrejmejlak.com)

Nadia Mifsud twieldet f’Malta fl-1976. Ta’ 22 sena, għazlet li tmur tgħix Franza fejn kompliet l-istudji tagħha u bdiet tgħallem il-lingwa u l-letteratura Ingliża.

Hija involuta f’diversi proġetti – kemm f’Malta kif ukoll fi Franza – li l-għan tagħhom hu li jippromwovu l-qari fost il-kbar u ż-żgħar.

Mifsud tikteb stejjer għat-tfal u proża għall-kbar bil-Franċiż. Bil-Malti, tħossha iktar komda tikteb il-poeżija. L-ewwel ġabra ta’ poeżiji bil-Malti tagħha, bl-isem ta’ żugraga (Klabb Kotba Maltin), ġiet ippubblikata f’Diċembru 2009.

Bħalissa, hi qed taħdem fuq proġett artistiku ma’ pittriċi Russa li wkoll tgħix Franza, kif ukoll fuq sensiela ta’ “polaroids” maħsuba għat-teatru.

Ġużè Stagno huwa rumanzier li twieled f'Marsaxlokk fil-21 ta' Settembru, 1976.

L-ewwel ktieb tiegħu, Inbid ta' Kuljum ġie ppubblikat fl-2001 u bih irnexxielu jirbaħ l-premju MAPA, kif ukoll spiċċa fit-tieni post fil-Premju Letterarju.

Fl-2003, Stagno ppubblika t-tieni ktieb tiegħu, Xemx, Wisq Sabiħa li ntlaqa' tajjeb mill-pubbliku u spiċċa wkoll fit-tieni post fil-Premju Letterarju tal-2003.

Fl-2008 ħareġ ir-rumanz Ramon u ż-Żerbinotti, kontinwazzjoni tal-istil li deher fiż-żewġ rumanzi l-oħra. Ippubblika wkoll in-novella "2 1/2" fi Ktieb għall-Ħruq maħruġ minn Inizjamed fl-2005.

Stagno qed jaħdem fuq numru ta' proġetti fosthom rumanz storiku u skript għat-televiżjoni.

Hyam Yared Schoucair twieldet fl-1975 fil-Libanu. Ippubblikat tliet kotba tal-poeżija u żewġ rumanzi.

L-ewwel ktieb tagħha, Reflets de Lune (Dar Anahar, Bejrut, 2001) rebaħ il-midalja tad-deheb fl-okkażjoni tal-Logħob Frankofonu (Québec, 2001). Hija ngħatat l-Ordni tal-Pléiade mill-Assoċjazzjoni tal-Parlamenti Frankofoni (APF, 2001). Il-poeżiji tagħha ġew ippubblikati fil-Libanu, il-Portugal u l-Italja. Hija Segretarja tal-PEN fil-Libanu.

L-iktar poeżiji riċenti tagħha huma biċċiet mix-xogħol tagħha li għaddej bħalissa, The Wounds of Water, li se jkun it-tieni ktieb tagħha.

Alexandra Büchler (Ir-Renju Unit/ir-Repubblika Ċeka) twieldet Praga u ħadet l-edukazzjoni tagħha fi Praga stess, f’Tessaloniki u f’Melborn (l-Awstralja). Ilha tgħix fir-Renju Unit mill-1989. Hija d-direttriċi fundatriċi ta’ Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) – programm Ewropew ta’ skambju letterarju, ibbażat fir-Renju Unit, u msieħeb fil-Culture Action Europe (li kien jismu European Forum for Arts and Heritage). Hija membru tat-Translators’ Association tar-Renju Unit.

Direttriċi editorjali ta’ Transcript, ir-rivista Ewropea fuq l-internet dwar il-kotba u l-kitba. Editriċi tas-sensiela internazzjonali ta’ antoloġiji tal-poeżija kontemporanja New Voices from Europe and Beyond mal-Arc Publications. Traduttriċi ta’ proża fittizja, poeżija, drammi teatrali u testi fuq l-arti u l-arkitettura moderni mill-Ingliż, iċ-Ċek u l-Grieg. Qalbet għaċ-Ċek ’il fuq minn ħamsa u għoxrin xogħol, fosthom: kotba ta’ awturi bħal ma huma J. M. Coetzee, David Malouf, Jean Rhys, Janice Galloway u Rhea Galanaki. Editjat u ttraduċiet parzjalment, ukoll, għadd ta’ antoloġiji, fosthom: This Side of Reality: Modern Czech Writing (1996), Allskin and Other Tales by Contemporary Czech Women (1998). L-aktar pubblikazzjonijiet riċenti tagħha huma A Fine Line: New Poetry from Central and Eastern Europe, Arc (2004) u Six Czech Poets, Arc (2007).

Effie Azzopardi beda jistudja l-mużika ta’ età żgħira. L-ewwel esperjenza importanti tiegħu fuq il-palk kienet bħala parti mill-kwartett tar-ramm li jġib l-isem The Bond Horns, li flimkien ma’ gruppi lokali oħrajn daqqew f’diversi okkażjonijiet.

Effie kompla jdoqq it-trumbetta ma’ gruppi differenti. Kien involut ukoll f’reġistrazzjonijiet u programmi tat-televixin u kellu l-opportunità jieħu sehem f’kunċerti live barra minn Malta.

Il-jazz jibqa’ l-ġeneru favorit tiegħu. Bħalissa huwa jdoqq ma’ kwartetti ta’ jazz f’diversi postijiet fejn jieħu gost idoqq ma’ sħabu.

Effie Azzopardi se jdoqq flimkien ma’ Eric Santucci bil-kitarra, Leonard Caruana bil-baxx elettriku u Reuben Navarro bid-drums. 

Il-mużiċisti f’dan il-grupp kollha jdoqqu individwalment ma’ diversi artisti oħra u fi gruppi differenti.

Flimkien huma se jħalltu l-istili mużikali differenti tagħhom, bħalma huma l-jazz, il-pop, ir-rock u l-blues u jittamaw li jagħtu ħoss oriġinali u pjaċevoli. Il-grupp mużikali se jippreżenta siltiet jazz kif ukoll għadd ta’ kanzunetti popolari Maltin b’arranġamenti jazz.

In the press

The Times (Malta)  -  Maltastar  -  Wales Literature Exchange - Babelmed - The Sunday Times (Malta, 5.09.10) - Malta Today (5.09.10) - Illum - (5.09.10)

The Malta Independent on Sunday -

Albert Gatt

Not quite the usual stuff

An interview with Niall Griffiths

What does the reader bring to a novel? We tend to come to books laden with expectations, about everything from the characters to the language in which a novel is written.  What, then, are we to make of an author who refuses to comply with the norm? Perhaps we need such authors to remind us that this has always been their job: to provoke within the reader that frisson of – what? Shock, perhaps.  Or aftershock, like the deafening silence that follows an earthquake. The feeling of having crossed a boundary, of having suffered a bombardment and emerged, in some sense, redeemed. Niall Griffiths is one such author.

Born in Liverpool of Welsh ancestry, Griffiths now lives in Aberystwyth, on the West coast of Wales. These two places form the backdrop of the six novels that he has published to date, as well as two works of non-fiction that one would be likely to find in the Travel section of a bookshop. But in their mixture of history, autobiography and personal reflection, Real Liverpool and Real Aberystwyth are much more than your average travel guide. Perhaps the key word is in the title: “real”. What is most striking about the writing of Niall Griffiths is the unflinching sense of the real, the physical and immediate. Grits, his first novel, was about a group of young dropouts from different parts of Britain, whose paths cross in Aberystwyth at the tail-end of post-Thatcher conservatism. It contained some of the ingredients that would characterise his later fiction: the multiple, first person narratives unfolding practically in real time, an empathic identification with characters who are on society’s margins and who are constantly searching for something beyond their humdrum existence, whether in the form of drugs and alcohol, as in Grits, or in the violent passion of obsessive love, as in his third novel, Kelly+Victor. And yet, through the pitch perfect dialect and gritty themes, there always emerges a haunting lyricism, often conveyed through descriptions of the Welsh landscape. The violence that imbues Sheepshagger, his second novel, emanates as much from its protagonist as from the crags and valleys through which he moves. There is also something of that lyrical violence in Runt, his latest novel, where the narrative is told through the eyes of a boy whose purity of vision is also reflected in the language he speaks, a language which acquires its richness through its very simplicity.

In your novels, you often adopt the point of view of particular characters and they all have distinct voices, with their own dialect and vocabulary. Do you think of writing as involving a psychological act, rather like our traditional view of an actor who “steps into a character’s shoes”, or is it the language that is primary?
The language is immeasurably important, of course, and I think that any claims to 'literature' are redundant unless one is attempting to do something new with the language, but this must not detract from any psychological accuracy or empathy with the characters. They must not be mere cyphers or symbols; to make them so would be to align oneself with dry and remote academia. I may have invented these people, to an extent, but they're emblematic of real, suffering flesh and blood, and that must always be the strongest motive and driving force.

The characters you write about tend to be outside the mainstream in many ways. Grits, for example, was told from the points of view of multiple characters, all of them young, jobless and high on drink and drugs. Stump features a recovering alcoholic who’s in trouble with the Liverpool mob. I could go on with more examples... Is your choice of characters political in some sense?
Yes, of course. The fallout from Thatcherism is still toxic, but there's also a general and invidious move in Britain towards a deep social selfishness, an insistence on conformity and coercion, and a willingness to snoop; this is a society in which the snitch and the nosey parker are held up as folk heroes. Plus there's the general dissatisfactions and frustrations of mainstream society - birth, school, work, marriage, parenthood, old age, death. For some people, this is not enough, and the tragedy comes in the lack of any avenue or outlet for such people. They tend to suffer and die prematurely. I'm at pains in my books to show how the abstractions of political ideologies, particularly self-serving ones, have specific and concrete effects; people - real people, with names and histories and hopes - are destroyed by papers signed in offices somewhere.

In Runt, the protagonist speaks in a different language. It’s English, but it’s not quite the kind of English we’re used to hearing, let alone reading. What was the inspiration behind the novel, and how difficult was it to pull off something like this?
I'd always wanted to write a novel which has a lexicon of just a few hundred words - the challenge seemed interesting, to be forced into creating new word-shapes. And the foot-and-mouth thing was going on then, rural communities were collapsing, there were suicides, the government was acting in its usual narrow-minded way. All of this coalesced with my desire to write inside the head of a young boy so far removed from mainstream society that he'd kind of invented his own language. This was quite easy to do; as it happened, I  was living in southern Sweden at the time I wrote Runt, a flat place, so I was not bombarded with descriptive words to do with hills and mountains as I am when I'm at home in Wales, surrounded by high land. Call it synchronicity, serendipity, or just good luck.

All your novels centre around Liverpool or the West coast of Wales, especially Aberystwyth. Is the connection between these two places purely autobiographical for you?

It's mainly autobiographical, I guess, although the social and political and cultural links between Liverpool and Wales, especially north Wales, have always been very strong. In many ways, Aberystwyth's a kind of Liverpool in miniature; port, student population, vanished industrial and maritime heyday etc. But the connection is mainly an autobiographical one, yes.

Apart from novels, you’ve written two works of non-fiction – “travel guides” one might call them, except they’re not your bog standard “rough guide to X” at all. Was writing Real Liverpool and Real Aberystwyth something totally different from writing your novels?
It was very different. I do some research for my novels, quite a lot in fact, but I wasn't prepared for the mountains of research that the travel books required (you're right to put that word in quotes, by the way). It snowballed into something colossal. Nor was I quite ready for the level of dissatisfaction the writing of them would engender; what good to the world is a novelist who doesn't write novels?, was the question I asked myself every day for two years. I accepted the commissions, and I wrote the books to the best of my ability, but I'll never do such writing again. We live and learn. Or that's the idea, anyway.

We still often think of literature as being British, French, Spanish, American and so on. I suppose that would make you a “contemporary British writer”. Does that actually mean anything to you?
Not really, no. I'm British, I'm contemporary and youngish (for a novelist; I'll turn 44 on the 12th, when I'm in Malta). and that's as far as it goes, really. The term is purely descriptive. I'm proud to represent Wales, of course; it's a small but culturally vibrant and diverse nation and there is much more to it than stovepipe hats and mining and close harmony singing. But I travel a lot and I pick up influences from all over the world, especially America. It's just the convenience of labelling, but it's not something I worry about.

Where are you planning to go next in your writing?
I have two books due out soon; a re-imagining of parts of The Mabinogion called Ronnie's Dream, and a travelogue/memoir about Australia called Ten Pound Pom. And I'm working on a novel called A Great Big Shining Star, about celebrity culture. Full of blood and puke and thunder. The usual stuff.

Niall Griffiths will be a guest at the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, which is being organised by Inizjamed and Literature Across Frontiers and will take place from September 9 to 11 at 20:00 at Gnien il-Mistrieh, Floriana. His visit is supported by the British Council (Malta).

19 August 2010

Published in The Sunday Times (Malta, 5 September 2010)