Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2018

Thursday 23 | Friday 24 | Saturday 25 August 2018

Fort Manoel, Manoel Island, Gżira. 8.00pm

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Juana Adcock (Mexico/UK) | Clare Azzopardi (Malta) | Massimo Barilla (Italy) | Aslı Erdoğan (Turkey) | Jean-Rémy Gandon (France) | Arjan Hut (Ljouwert, Netherlands) | Laia López Manrique (Spain) | Caldon Mercieca (Malta) | Teodor Reljić (Malta) | Philip Sciberras (Malta) | Sjón (Iceland) | Ali Thareb (Bābil, Iraq)

 

 

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Il-Ħamis 23 ta’ Awwissu / Thursday August 23

Caldon Mercieca (Malta) – poeżija

Juana Adcock (Mexico/UK) – poeżija

Pawża / Break

Film tal-poeżija / Poetry Film: “Kafè,” Kenneth Scicluna u Clare Azzopardi, b’introduzzjoni ta’ Noel Tanti. Ikkummissjonat minn Inizjamed u l-Fondazzjoni Valletta 2018

Arjan Hut (Ljouwert, Netherlands) – poeżija u proża

Sjón (Iceland) – poeżija u proża. Intervista minn / Interviewed by Albert Gatt

Mużiċist mistieden: Robert Farrugia; mużiċisti residenti: Effie Azzopardi, Kenneth Sacco, Rafel Grima

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Il-Ġimgħa 24 ta’ Awwissu / Friday August 24

Massimo Barilla (Italy) – poeżija u proża

Teodor Reljić (Malta) – proża

Pawża

Film tal-poeżija / Poetry Film: “Il-Lejl f’dan l-Istazzjon,” Carlos Debattista u Abigail Mallia, with an introduction by Rebecca Anastasi

Laia López Manrique (Spain) – poeżija

Clare Azzopardi (Malta) – proża, intervistata minn Claudia Gauci

Mużiċist mistieden: Robert Farrugia; mużiċisti residenti: Effie Azzopardi, Kenneth Sacco, Rafel Grima

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Is-Sibt 25 ta’ Awwissu / Saturday August 25

Jean-Rémi Gandon (France) – poeżija

Philip Sciberras (Malta) – poeżija, b’introduzzjoni mill-Prof. Bernard Micallef

Pawża

Film tal-poeżija / Poetry Film, “Hail the Bodhisattva of Collected Junk,” dir. Ye Mimi, Taiwan, introduced by Noel Tanti

Ali Thareb (Bābil, Iraq) – poeżija

Aslı Erdoğan (Turkey) – proża, interviewed by Nadia Mifsud

Għeluq bil-kbir / Grande finale

Mużiċist mistieden: Robert Farrugia; mużiċisti residenti: Effie Azzopardi, Kenneth Sacco, Rafel Grima

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The XIIIth edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival organized by Inizjamed will be held on Thursday 23rd, Friday 24th and Saturday 25th August 2018, at Fort Manoel, Manoel Island, Gzira, at 8.00pm. The pre-Festival events start on Sunday 19 August and include two discussions with the participation of the invited writers, an Open Mic session and presentations by an international publisher, a festival organiser, and a literary agent. Entrance to all events is free.

Twelve writers from nine countries are reading at the festival, which also features Maltese and foreign poetry films, Maltese electonic music, a book stall, a book binding stand by Kotba Calleja, drinks and a selection of food by CORE GREEN organic & fairtrade.

This year’s edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival is hosting a special exhibition at Fort Manoel, “Matiz ~ Gabo: Los cronistas de Macondo”, of 30 photos by the late Colombian photographer Leo Matiz inspired by the masterpiece of Colombian writer and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the novel Cien años de soledad (1967, One Hundred Years of Solitude). This exhibition is being held in collaboration with the Embassy of Colombia in Italy and the Honorary Consulate of Colombia in Malta.

Ali Thareb (Bābil, Iraq)

The authors participating in this XIIIth edition are Juana Adcock (Mexico/UK), Clare Azzopardi (Malta), Massimo Barilla (Italy), Aslı Erdoğan (Turkey), Jean-Rémy Gandon (France), Arjan Hut (Ljouwert, Netherlands), Laia López Manrique (Spain), Caldon Mercieca (Malta), Teodor Reljić (Malta), Philip Sciberras (Malta), Sjón (Iceland), and Ali Thareb (Bābil, Iraq).

Readings will be mostly in Maltese and English, but some short works will also be read in other languages. Food

The festival is part of a three-year Cultural Partnership Agreement between Inizjamed and Arts Council Malta. This is an important agreement because it offers concrete support in terms of training and financial resources to three editions of this independent festival and allows Inizjamed to plan ahead with peace of mind.

This year we are screening two new poetry films, Clare Azzopardi and Ken Scicluna are working on a poetry film of Achille Mizzi’s work “Kafè”, while Abigail Mallia and Carlos Debattista are producing a poetry film of Oliver Friggieri’s work “Il-Lejl f’Dan l-Istazzjon”. This project is being run in collaboration with the Valletta 2018 Foundation.

Robert Farrugia is our guest musician for all three evenings, but this year there will also be a resident band on stage.

Thursday 23rd August 

The writers reading on Thursday 23rd August are Caldon Mercieca (Malta), Juana Adcock (Mexico/UK), Arjan Hut (Ljouwert, Netherlands) and the well-known novelist Sjón (Iceland), who is being interviewed by Albert Gatt. This first evening features the premiere of one of two Maltese poetry films commissioned by Valletta 2018 Foundation, “Kafè,” by Kenneth Scicluna and Clare Azzopardi,  The poem is by Achille Mizzi and the film will be introced by Noel Tanti.

Live music on all three nights will be provided by a resident jazz band and by Robert Farrugia.

Friday 24th August

On Friday 24th August, the writers invited to read are Massimo Barilla (Italy), Teodor Reljić (Malta), Laia López Manrique (Spain), and Clare Azzopardi (Malta), who will be interviewed by Claudia Gauci.

This second night features the premiere of a film of Oliver Friggieri’s poem “Il-Lejl f’dan l-Istazzjon” by film makers Carlos Debattista and Abigail Mallia. The film will be introduced by Monika Malgorzata Maslowska.

During the readings on Friday (8.00pm – 11.00pm), children are being invited to attend an open workshop in Maltese and English on story writing and building papier-mâché models for festivals and other outdoor activities. This parallel event, which is part of the Oħloq Kultura programme, is being organized by More or Less Theatre in collaboration with the Valletta 2018 Foundation. Parents who would like to enrol their children for this workshop are to write to info@moreorlesstheatre.com, indicating what time they will be attending.

Saturday 25th August

The writers reading on Saturday 25th August are Jean-Rémi Gandon (France), special guest Philip Sciberras (Malta), who will be introduced by Bernard Micallef,  Ali Thareb (Bābil, Iraq), and Aslı Erdoğan (Turkey), who is being interviewed by Nadia Mifsud.

This third and final evening also features the screening of a foreign poetry film that will be introduced by Noel Tanti.

Some of the literature read during the festival might require an adult audience.

Pre-Festival Events

The writers will be in Malta throughout the week of the festival to take part in the Malta LAF Literary Translation Workshop led by writer and translator Nadia Mifsud. They will be translating each other’s works, and reading some of these translations during the festival.

Pre-Festival events featuring the invited authors, two publishers, a festival organizer and a literary agent are being held on Sunday 19th August, Tuesday 21st, and Wednesday 22nd, all starting at 8.00pm. There are also two events at Fort Manoel on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th that start at 7.00pm.

On Sunday 19th August, at 8.00pm at …, invited writers will be taking part in a round table discussion on “Losing my Space: The Nature of Literature,” with the participation of writers …. Nature has always been the focus of literature, a source of renewal, spiritual, pure. The relation of authors with nature has changed because our landscapes and seascapes have changed, but nature remains a source of inspiration and concern, a concern transfixed by agony. How does the lack of natural environment and open spaces translate to literature? How do we write trees and fields when trees and fields are no longer? How do we write the colour of the changing sea? Our space and light are being stolen by buildings that reach for the sky. How does literature deal with this daylight robbery? How does it document our struggle for space?

On Tuesday 21st August at 8.00pm, invited writers will be taking part in a round table discussion on “Writing fragile | Literature and Mental Health” at …. Can literature alleviate, explain and deploy the pain of living? To tell of an illness, and to hear it being told, has always served as an effective instrument of reshaping all the fragments which make it up, and which compose and structure our composite relationship with the world. A shattered world, and one that we now find ourselves strenuously trying to reassemble, word by word.

On Wednesday 22nd August at 8.00pm, Inizjamed presents a special festival edition of its monthly multilingual Open Mic (Palk Ħieles) sessions coordinated by Jean Paul Borg, at …. Writers and singer-songwriters are welcome to present their work.

On Friday 24 and Saturday 25, at 7.00pm at Fort Manoel, before the start of the festival evenings, Inizjamed presents two special events. On Friday, two….

On Saturday 25 at 7.00pm, again at Fort Manoel, the pre-Festival is hosting a session ….

Other Pre-Festival Events

In the weeks leading up to the Festival, other literary events involving the invited Maltese writers are being held, including an Open Mic session in Gozo, and readings in the St Vincent de Paul Residence and in a summer school.

This year’s programme is organised as part of the ‘Literary Europe Live Plus’ project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union in cooperation with Literature Across Frontiers.

The 2018 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival and the Malta LAF translation workshop are being held in partnership with Arts Council Malta and Literature Across Frontiers, and with the support of Valletta 2018 Foundation, Manoel Island Foundation, Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, the volunteers of Tal-Kultura, and Studio Solipsis. The MMLF is the recipient of the EFFE, Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe label.

This year, within the framework of the Festival, Inizjamed is active within HELA, the Hub for Excellence in the Literary Arts which is supported by the Platform of Creative Industries of Arts Council Malta. It is also collaborating with the project on The Phoenician Route supported by the European Council.

More information is available on Facebook on the pages of Inizjamed Malta and the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival 2018.

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