Watch the 22 min multilingual video about the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2011
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Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival The Arab Spring Dignity AND fREEDOM Thur 8, Frid 9, Sat 10 Sept, 2011 - Garden of Rest, Floriana, 8.00pm (close to the Floriana Central Public Library)
Entrance free
Invited writers: Yasser Abdellatif (Cairo, Egypt) | Awlad Ahmed (Tunisia) John Aquilina (Malta) | Stéphane Chaumet (France) Mona El Shemy (south Egypt)|Tarek Eltayeb (Sudan/Egypt/Austria) Simone Galea (Malta) | Niki Marangou (Cyprus) Albert Marshall (Malta) | Myriam Montoya (Colombia) Rasha Omran (Syria) | Mohamed-Salah Omri (UK) Robin Yassin-Kassab (Syria/UK) | Abdelrehim Youssef (Alexandria, Egypt)
Guest musicians: Jes Psaila, Luke Briffa, Alan Portelli (CUSP) Effie Azzopardi, Leonard Caruana, Eric Santucci, Gilbert Vassallo, Ryan Buttigieg (In Beat)
with the support of the EU Culture programme, Malta Arts Fund, Din l-Art Ħelwa, The British Council, Middlesea Insurance plc, Fondation René Seydoux, Bundesministeriums für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur (BUKK), European Commission Representation in Malta, Ambassade de France à Malte
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Festival banner by Pierre Portelli |
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Garden of Rest / Ġnien il-Mistrieħ, Floriana |
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The writers will also be taking part in the LAF
Malta Literary Translation Workshop 2011
Design
Pierre Portelli and Darren Tanti
Coordination
Adrian Grima, supported by Clare Azzopardi, Claudia Gauci, Maria Grech Gandao, Immanuel Mifsud, Nadia Mifsud, Walid Nabhan, Darren Tanti
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.
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With the support of
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Festival Programme - Ġnien il-Mistrieħ, il-Furjana, 8.00pm
p r o v i s i o n a l
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Thursday 8 Sept |
John Aquilina (poetry) Abdelrehim Youssef (poetry) Photos of the revolution in Alexandria and a short documentary by Hend Bakr called “Out of Focus” Myriam Montoya (poetry) Tarek Eltayeb (poetry and prose) Live music: CUSP, with Jes Psaila (guitar), Luke Briffa (drums), Alan Portelli (bass)
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Friday 9 Sept |
Mona El Shemy (prose) Stéphane Chaumet (poetry and prose) Awlad Ahmed (poetry) Niki Marangou (poetry and prose) Albert Marshall (poetry) Live music: In Beat, with Effie Azzopardi (trumpet), Eric Santucci (guitar), Leonard Caruana (bass) and Ryan Buttigieg (drums)
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Saturday 10 Sept |
Simone Galea (poetry) Yasser Abdellatif (poetry and prose) Mohamed-Salah Omri (prose) Rasha Omran (poetry) Robin Yassin-Kassab (prose) All writers from the other nights on stage to read one short piece Live music: In Beat, with Effie Azzopardi (trumpet), Eric Santucci (guitar), Leonard Caruana (bass) and Gilbert Vassallo (drums) |
Mediterranean Literature Festival and the Arab Spring of Dignity
8-10 September, Garden of Rest, Floriana, 8.00pm
Leading
writers from nine countries and top Maltese musicians will perform at the
sixth annual Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, the biggest so far, on
Thursday 8, Friday 9 and Saturday 10th September, 2011, at the Garden of
Rest in Floriana, between the Floriana Central Public Library and Ospizio.
This year's edition will focus on “The Arab Spring: Dignity and Freedom” and
will present an exciting array of literary genres and languages, unique
voices, photographs and a short documentary on the revolution in Alexandria.
All evenings
will feature live, mostly original jazz music, by Effie Azzopardi and his
band In Beat and a trio formed by Jes Psaila, Alan Portelli and Luke Briffa.
There will also be food, drink and specialised books for sale. The readings,
which are meant for a mature audience, start at 8.00pm, and entrance to all
events is free.
Thursday - "Out of Focus"
The poems and short stories will be read mainly in Maltese and English, but
also in the native languages of the various writers. The writers reading on
Thursday are the London-based Maltese poet John Aquilina, who published his
first collection, Leħnek il-Libsa Tiegħi in 2009; the Egyptian poet
from Alexandria Abdelrehim Youssef, who will also be showing pictures of the
Egyptian revolution in Alexandria in which he was very much involved; the
well-known Colombian Paris-based poet Myriam Montoya, who writes in Spanish,
and the Arabic language poet and novelist Tarek Eltayeb (in picture), who
lives in Vienna, and was brought up in Egypt by a Sudanese father and
Egyptian mother. Live music on Thursday will be provided by the recently set
up jazz trio called CUSP, with Jes Psaila on guitar, Luke Briffa on drums
and Alan Portelli on bass.
Another
important item in the programme on Thursday is the projection of photographs
taken during the revolution in Alexandria, Egypt, by Egyptian photographers,
and a short documentary by the young female director Hend Bakr called “Out
of Focus.” These will be introduced by the Alexandrian writer Abdelrehim
Youssef. Hend Bakr says that she chose this title for two reasons: firstly,
because the film is based on monitoring the revolution through the eyes of
two photographers, Mohamed El-Hadidi and Abdalla Dawstashy; and secondly
because of the nature of what the cameras monitor, that is incidents which
are clear but not complete, reflecting the many questions about the future,
and the present.
Friday - Special Maltese guest Albert Marshall
Friday’s
readings will be by the short story writer Mona El Shemy, who comes from
Southern Egypt, the French poet and novelist Stéphane Chaumet, whose first
novel that deals with the Algerian War of Independence has been reviewed by
the French press, including L'Humanité and Le Monde; and the
major Greek Cypriot poet and novelist Niki Marangou.
The leading Tunisian poet Awlad Ahmed will also read on Friday. He was imprisoned in his country's jails for short periods because of his writings and his cultural activities which were directed at exposing fundamentalism and the one-state-party before the Tunisian revolution. He is the author of a well-known poem about Mohamed Bouazizi, the young man who set himself and the Arab world on fire in December 2010 and died because of the injuries he suffered.
The last
writer readng on Friday is poet Albert Marshall (in picture), who has
recently published a Maltese-English bilingual collection called Jumping
Puddles and is this year's special Maltese guest writer. Effie Azzopardi
and his band will be playing standard and original jazz tunes.
Saturday - Robin Yassin-Kassab and The Road from Damascus
The writers reading on Saturday 10th September are Simone Galea, author of
the recently published collection of poetry, Xi Drabi Mqar Persuna; the
Cairo-based Yasser Abdellatif, who has recently been in Canada writing
poetry and prose; Syrian poet Rasha Omran, who lives in Damascus; Oxford
University lecturer, translator and writer Mohamed-Salah Omri; and Robin
Yassin-Kassab, author of the acclaimed novel The Road from Damascus
(who will also be interviewed by Dr. Albert Gatt), On Saturday all
writers from the other nights on stage to read one short piece, and Effie
Azzopardi and his band will introduce the evening with their music and bring
it to a close with a small concert.
On
the three nights, there will be food and drinks for sale served by the
volunteers of the socially committed Third World Group. A book stand will be
selling books by Maltese and foreign authors, and special publications about
the Arab revolutions.
The Festival coincides with the sixth 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.
In collaboration
This annual international literary festival, the only one held in Malta, is
being organised by Inizjamed and Literature Across Frontiers with the
support of the Culture Programme of the EU, Malta Arts Fund, Din l-Art Ħelwa, The British
Council, the European Commission Representation in Malta, and Austrian
Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, and the French Embassy in
Malta.
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:
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advance intercultural dialogue through literature and translation within the EU and with third countries, and in particular with EU neighbours in the Mediterranean region;
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improve access to lesser-known literatures, particularly those written in less widely-used languages of Europe and underrepresented in the international arena;
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encourage greater diversity in international literary events and in the publishing of literature for all age groups;
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develop innovative approaches to literary creation, promotion, support for translation and training of literary translators working in less widely-used languages;
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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;
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stimulate debate on relevant policy and financing at national and European level;
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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.
The Writers
Yasser ABDEL-LATIF
(novelist, poet, scriptwriter, translator; Egypt) is the author of two
poetry collections; the latest Nocturnal Round was published in 2009.
His first novel Law of Inheritance won the 2005 Sawiris Prize in the
young authors category.
Abdel-Latif has also edited the short story collection Half Past Seven on Wednesday Evenings and his articles and translations have appeared in numerous magazines. He is also a scriptwriter; his screen credits include No One Came Back (2007), The Eagle Road (2004), and An Upright Citizen from Maadi (2002).
A selection of his work translated into English appears here: http://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/archive/2009bios.html
John Aquilina
was born in Attard, Malta, in 1977. He studied sciences at De La Salle
College in Birgu, Malta, and then at the University of Malta.
In 2000 he left Malta to further his studies in Mathematics at Cambridge and Bath, where received his Ph.D in 2005. Since then he has been working at an Investment Bank in London.
John Aquilina started writing poetry in 1994, mostly in Maltese, but recently also in English. The female is conceived as a mystery, and death itself as female, in many metaphors he employs. The solitude (the absence of the other) and silence (the absence of sound) that characterize physical travel become for this author a voyage inwards.
HIs first collection of poetry in Maltese, Leħnek il-Libsa Tiegħi (Your voice my only clothing), appeared in 2010 (Edizzjoni Skarta), and he is currently preparing a volume of translations and poems in English.
Awlad
Ahmed
founded of the Tunisian House of Poetry in October 1993. He
graduated from the High School of Cultural Animators in Tunisia in 1977,
and started studying Psychology at the University of Reims, France, but
did not complete the course.
He was in charge of several cultural pages and supplements in Tunisian newspapers and magazines and founded and issued the first and last edition of "House of Poetry" in 1995. His work "The Commandment" was made into a theatre play in 2004. He is also the co-author of the play Alqaz Money together with the National Theatre of Tunis.
Some of his poems were turned into songs performed by Tunisian and Arab singers and musicians. His first collection of poems Song of the days of the Year was confiscated and banned from 1984 to 1988. He was imprisoned in his country's jails for short periods because of his writings and his cultural activities which were directed at exposing fundamentalism and the one-state-party. He left the house of Poetry due to disagreements with the government, accusing it of taking over the functions of the House.
Currently he writes articles for weekly and monthly magazines in Tunisia and the Arab World. Many texts of Awlad Ahmed have been translated into French, English, German, Dutch and Italian.
He has participated in several Arab and international festivals of
poetry in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Bonn, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Strasberg,
Grenoble, Rabat, Casablanca, Fez, Tripoli, Amman, Baghdad, and Sharjah.
Stéphane Chaumet est né en 1971 à Dunkerque. A vécu aux États-Unis, au
Mexique, en Syrie et en Chine.
Il a publié un roman, Même pour ne pas vaincre (Le Seuil, 2011) et
les livres de poésie Dans la nudité du temps (L’Oreille du Loup,
2007), Urbaines miniatures (L’Oreille du Loup, 2007), La traversée
de l’errance /La travesía de la errancia (La Cabra, México, 2010).
Il
a traduit plusieurs poètes latino-américains (Pura López Colomé, Myriam
Montoya, Alberto Blanco…) et espagnols (Olvido García Valdés, Leopoldo María
Panero…) ainsi que la poète allemande Hilde Domin et la poète iranienne
Forough Farrokhzad.
Il a été invité à de nombreux festivals internationaux en Amérique latine, en Europe et en Afrique.
Mona El Shemy
is a novelist and short stories writer. Born in south of Egypt.
She studied Egyptology at the University of Cairo and working now as a teacher for history.
She published three novels: The Winner Side, Cairo 2008; The Arawla Rose, Cairo 2006; A fugitive color from the Rainbow, Cairo 2003.
Mona El Shemy has also published three short stories: Nostalgia Secretes, Cairo 2010; From the Hole of the Needle, Cairo 2009; and If the light flooded, Sharja, UAE 2008.
She has received numerous awards: The central culture places award for Writers under 35 years, the award of the middle and south Upper Egypt for the novel, B.B.C award for short stories, Sharja Award in UAE, Cultural Dubai Award and others.
Tarek Eltayeb
was born to Sudanese parents in Cairo in 1959. He has been living in Vienna
since 1984. After studying at the Institute for Economic Philosophy of
Vienna’s University of Economics, he is currently teaching at three
universities in Austria.
He
has been writing since 1985 and has so far published two novels, two
collections of short stories, five collections of poems, and one play in
Arabic.
His
books have been published in German, English, Italian, French, Spanish,
Macedonian, Romanian and Serbian translations.
His poems have appeared in different languages in various literary
anthologies, magazines, and journals worldwide.
He has been granted numerous major fellowships like the Elias Cannetti
Fellowship of the City of Vienna in 2005 and was awarded the International
Grand Prize for Poetry 2007 at the International Festival Curtea de Argeş in
Romania.
In 2008, he was appointed Austrian Ambassador for the European Year for
Intercultural Dialogue (EJID). In the same year, he received the Decoration
of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria.
He
is a faculty member of the International Writing Program Between the Lines
at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, USA.
His last two poetry collections have been published in Beirut in 2010 (We
Sold the Ground and Were Happy with the Dust) and in Cairo in 2011 (Not
Sin).
He has presented his work at many international literature festivals.
http://www.eltayeb.at/
Simone
Galea
(1967) started writing poetry at a young age but published her first
book of poetry, Xi Drabi Mqar Persuna in 2011. Her first book for
children, Il-Metamorfosi tal-Mamà is also being published in 2011.
She is currently working with other writers and artists on various writing
projects.Simone Galea is senior lecturer in Philosophy of Education the University of Malta where she has been teaching for the last fifteen years. After obtaining her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Malta she was awarded a bursary at the Nottingham Trent University, UK, where she completed her PhD studies. Her academic areas of specialization include feminist philosophies, philosophies of difference particularly related to research with migrant students, narrative inquiry and the use of literary texts in the development of teachers and their concepts of teaching.
She has taught in primary state schools and Maltese language and literature in secondary and higher secondary schools. She is married and has two children.
Niki Marangou
was born in Limassol, Cyprus 1948. Studied sociology in West Berlin from
1965-70. Worked for ten years as dramaturg at the State Theatre of Cyprus.
From 1980-2007 she was directing KOCHLIAS BOOKSHOP in Nicosia.
She has published books of prose, poetry and children’s fairy tales and won state prizes for her literary work. In 1998 she wan in Alexandria the Cavafy prize for poetry. She is a member of the Hellenic Authors Society and the Cyprus Writers Assosiation. In 2006 she received the poetry award from the Athens Academy for her book DIVAN.
In May 2008 her book THE DEMON OF LUST was chosen by DIAVAZO REWARDS in Athens as among the ten best short stories of the year. In 2004 her poem “Roses” was chosen to be hung in waiting rooms in NHS Hospitals in the UK. Her poems are included in the “European constitution in verse” of the Brussels Poetry Collective (2009) and in the cd «Nachrichten von der Poesie» (Random House) edited by Joachim Sartorius.
She had seven exhibitions of her work in painting. She lives in Nicosia and has a daughter who is a painter. http://www.marangou.com
Albert Marshall
(Malta, 1947) was educated at the
University of Malta, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA)
and Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. His first publication was
Dħaħen fl-Imħuħ, an anthology of ‘new wave’ poetry, with Oliver
Friggieri and Gorg Borg as co-authors.
While in London, he edited and published his collection of poetry, Rumminiet Jittewbu minn wara s-Sejjieħ. In 1976, a collection of his poetry appeared in Poeziji ta’ Mħabba, co-authored with Joe Friggieri and Oliver Friggieri.
Albert Marshall emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in January 1981. During his fifteen years in Australia, he worked in Australian film, radio, theatre, and television.
He was active in Melbourne’s literary circles and his literary work was published in various multicultural literary magazines and journals, including various poetry anthologies that featured the works of Australian-Maltese authors.
In 1990, Albert started pursuing an academic career at Victoria University in Melbourne. After finishing reading for his Masters degree in Communication Studies, he was offered tenure as full-time lecturer at the University. In 1995, Albert was drawn back to Malta by an offer from the University of Malta: the University contracted him as a lecturer and as the Managing Director of University Radio. Between 1995 and 2004, Albert occupied various senior executive posts related to the Maltese media. After a one-year stint establishing distance-learning broadcasting at University Radio, Albert was appointed Chief Executive of the National Broadcaster, PBS Ltd., a post he occupied until 1999.
In 1997, Albert published Diaspora, a collection of his poetry. Albert’s literary and academic work has been published in Australia, Canada and Malta. In 2010 he co-authored Battuti għal Inżul ix-Xemx (with Charles Scerri and Ivan De Battista). Jumping Puddles (2011) is Marshall’s latest collection of poetry, a bilingual publication (Maltese & English).
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Born in Bello, Antioquia,
Montoya took her first steps as a writer in the literary
workshop of the great novelist from her region, Manuel Mejía
Vallejo. But it was the poet Jaime Jaramillo Escobar, the
legendary X-504, considered as one of the
major nadaísta poets and one of the most important in the
country, who initiated her into poetry and its mysteries.
Reading poetry aloud under his guidance, from a young age
Montoya experimented with the hidden meaning of words which,
thrown to the wind, could become electric sparks.
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Rasha Omran
is a Syrian poet with a degree in Arabic literature from Damascus
University.
Since 1997 she has published four collections of poetry: Rajaa Lahu Shakal al-Haya; Ka’ana Manfay Jasady; Thilak al-Mumatad Fi Aqsa Hanini and Ma’atif Ahmar Faragh as well as compiling an anthology of Syrian Poetry.
Rasha Omran is the director of the annual Al-Sindiyana festival of culture in Syria.
http://www.banipal.co.uk/contributors/60/rasha_omran/
Mohamed-Salah
Omri
is Lecturer in Modern Arabic Literature and Tutorial Fellow of St. John’s
College at the University of Oxford.
He has also taught at Washington University in St. Louis in the US and University of Exeter in Britain, where he was Director of the Centre for Mediterranean Studies.
His publications include: Trade and cultural exchange in the early modern Mediterranean: Braudel’s maritime legacy (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010) in collaboration with Maria Fusaro and Colin Heywood; Nationalism, Islam and World Literature: sites of confluence in the writings of Mahmud al-Mas’adi (London and New York: Routledge, 2006); The Novelization of Islamic Literatures: the intersections of Western, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Turkish Traditions, a special issue of Comparative Critical Studies (4:3 (2007); and two books with Professor Abdeljalil Temimi. Dr. Omri also writes occasional interventions in the culture and politics of Tunisia, the Maghreb and the Mediterranean more widely.
Robin
Yassin-Kassab was born in west London in 1969. Except for six
months in Beirut, he grew up in England and Scotland. He has lived and worked
in London, France, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
His first novel, The Road From Damascus, was published in 2008 by
Hamish Hamilton and Penguin, and by il Saggiatore in Italy. He is also a
co-editor and regular contributor to PULSE, recently listed by Le Monde
Diplomatique as one of its five favourite websites. His blog can be found at
www.qunfuz.com. Qunfuz is the Arabic word for
‘hedgehog’ or ‘porcupine’. In his June 17th blog, anticipating an article
which appeared in The Guardian, he wrote the following:
"Last January Syria seemed, along with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, to be amongst the least likely candidates for revolution. If President Bashaar al-Asad had run in a real election, he may well have won.
It’s difficult remembering it today: most Syrians did grudgingly credit the regime with ensuring security and prosecuting a vaguely nationalist foreign policy. It’s that keen desire for security, the overwhelming fear of Iraq-style chaos, which keeps a section of Syrians fiercely loyal to the regime even now.
To start with, although they were inspired by revolutions in Tunisa and Egypt, most protestors didn’t aim for regime change. The first demonstration – in the commercial heart of Damascus – was a response to police brutality. That one ended peacefully, but when Dera’a protested over the arrest of schoolchildren the regime spilt blood. Outraged, communities all over the country took to the streets, and met greater violence, which swelled the crowds further. A vicious circle began to spin. All the intelligence, and the nationalist pretensions, peeled away from the government to reveal a dark and thuggish core."
Abdelrehim Youssef was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1975. He works as an
English teacher in a governmental primary school, and he is the Visibility
Responsible in Gudran Association for Art and Development.
An Egyptian slang poet with many published poems in several literary periodicals and three published books of poetry: “Poems Dead with Heart Failure” – 2008, “From the Blue Period” – 2009 and “A Cat, a Sainte and a Fairy” – 2010. He has written songs and shared in dramatizing more than 12 theatrical shows from 2000 to 2010. He has been an assistant editor for the three issues of Meena, a bilingual literary magazine since 2005.
He has managed several literary and cultural meetings in Alexandria, and he has been lately the responsible of cultural and literary activities in El Cabina Library, Alexandria.
He
is married to the Alexandria short story writer “Omayma Abdel-Shafy” and has
a son called “Yehia” (2007).
www.abdelrehimyoussef.
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She is editorial director of Transcript Europe’s Online Review of International Writing www.transcript-review.org, and editor of the international series of contemporary poetry anthologies New Voices from Europe and Beyond at the UK-based Arc Publications. A translator of fiction, poetry, theatre plays and texts on modern art and architecture from English, Czech and Greek, she has translated over twenty-five works, including books by authors such as J. M. Coetzee, David Malouf, Jean Rhys, Janice Galloway and Rhea Galanaki into Czech. She has also edited and part-translated a number of anthologies, including This Side of Reality: Modern Czech Writing (1996), Allskin and Other Tales by Contemporary Czech Women (1998). Her most recent publications are A Fine Line: New Poetry from Central and Eastern Europe, Arc (2004) and Six Czech Poets, Arc (2007), and poetry by Patrick McGuinness published in Czech in 2009.
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Guest Musicians
CUSP
Formed earlier this year, CUSP (in
picture, right) play
jazz standards with original arrangements which move away from the
traditional sound together with some of their own original compositions.
The trio is made up of Luke Briffa on drums, Alan Portelli on bass and Jes Psaila on guitar. The musicians are not new to the local scene, each with a diverse musical background, but together sharing a common interest in improvised music.
IN BEAT
The musicians in this band (in picture, below) all play individually with other artists and in different bands. They are
Effie Azzopardi (trumpet), Eric Santucci (guitar), Leonard Caruana (bass), and Gilbert Vassallo and Ryan Buttigieg (drums).
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.
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.
(In the photo, from left, Leonard Caruana, Effie Azzopardi, Gilbert Vassallo, Eric Santucci)
Msida Bastion Historic Garden, FLORIANA
Extract from Heritage Fragments
by Joe Azzopardi
Published by Din l-Art Helwa 2010
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Ġnien il-Mistrieħ, Floriana |
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)