Inizjamed Blue White@0.5x
Festival Mediterranju tal-Letteratura ta Malta / Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival
Awturi 2016

Awturi 2016

Samantha Barendson (France) | Roja Chamankar (Iran) | Joe P. Galea (Malta) | Rodolfo Häsler (Cuba/Spain) | Elias Khoury (Lebanon) | Ciwanmerd Kulek (Kurdistan/Turkey) | Daniel Massa (Malta) | Marc Nair (Singapore) | Abderrahim Sail (Morocco) | Rita Saliba (Malta) | Mark Vella (Malta) | Abigail Ardelle Zammit (Malta)

 
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Samantha Barendson hija poetessa Franċiża, Taljana u Arġentina. Twieldet fl-1976 fi Spanja, trabbiet l-Arġentina u l-Messiku u fl-aħħar rabbiet l-għeruq f’Lyons, Franza. Bħalma għamlet f’ħajjitha, kitbietha tivvjaġġa bejn lingwa u oħra, u kultant jitħalltu flimkien f’invenzjoni kreattiva. Awtriċi ta’ poeżija kif ukoll ta’ drammi għat-teatru, hija tħobb taħdem ma’ poeti oħra, pitturi, mużiċisti, illustraturi u fotografi. Wara dan kollu, hija tħobb tgħajjat b’vuċi għolja u oratorika, twerżaq jew tkanta il-poeżija tagħha fuq il-palk, frustrata li m’hijiex kantanta tat-Tango.

Hija membru attiv tal-grupp Le syndicat des poètes qui vont mourir un jour (il-union tal-poeti li xi darba se jmutu) li għandu l-għan li jippromovi l-poeżija għal kulħadd u kullimkien. F’Marzu tal-2015, Samantha Barendson rebħet il-premju għall-poeżija Franċiża “René Leynaud” bil-ktieb Le citronnier (Is-siġra tal-lumi). www.samantha-barendson.com/

Samantha Barendson is a French, Italian and Argentinian poet. She was born in 1976 in Spain, grew up in Argentina and Mexico and finally settled in France, in Lyons. Like herself, her writing travels from one language to another, and sometimes get mix in a creative reinvention. Author of poetry but also theater plays, she likes to work with other poets, painters, musicians, illustrators and photographers. Then she likes to declaim, perform, yell or sing her poetry on stage, a little frustrated for not being a Tango singer.

She is an active member of the Collective: “Le syndicat des poètes qui vont mourir un jour” (The union of poets who will die someday) whose purpose is to promote poetry for everyone and everywhere. In March 2015, she received the French poetry “René Leynaud” award for her poetry book Le citronnier (The lemon tree). www.samantha-barendson.com/

 


 
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Roja Chamankar twieldet f’Borazjan fin-nofsinhar tal-Iran fl-1981. Hija poetessa u direttriċi tal-films. Studjat iċ-ċinema fl-Università tal-Arti ta’ Tehran, u wara kisbet Masters fil-letteratura drammatika. Fl-2010 marret Franza biex tagħmel Masters fiċ-ċinema u għandha wkoll dottorat fil-Letteratura Persjana mill-Università ta’ Strasbourg.

Roja Chamankar ippubblikat sitt kotba ta’ poeżija bil-Farsi (Persjan). Tlieta minn dawn is-sitt kotba rebħu premjijiet nazzjonali. Żewġ kollezzjonijiet ta’ poeżija tagħha inqalbu għall-Franċiż: Mes souffles coupés par le milieu (Strasbourg: Minuscule, 2011) u Je ressemble à une chambre noire (Paris: Bruno Doucey, 2015).

Roja Chamankar is a poet-filmmaker born in Borazjan, in southern Iran in 1981. She studied cinema at the Tehran Art University, before obtaining a Masters in dramatic literature. In 2010 she went to France to study for a Masters of cinema. She then obtained a Ph.D in Persian literature from the University of Strasbourg.

Roja Chamankar has published 6 books of poetry in Farsi (Persian), three of which have won national awards. Two collections of her poems have also been translated into French: Mes souffles coupés par le milieu (Strasbourg: Minuscule, 2011) and Je ressemble à une chambre noire (Paris: Bruno Doucey, 2015).

 
 

 
joe p galea
 

Imwieled f’Malta fl-1965, Joe P. Galea studja t-Teoloġija fl-Università ta’ Malta. Għal 14-il sena għex ħajja solitarja f’eremitaġġi fuq il-muntanji tal-Umbria, l-Italja.

Il-kitba tiegħu tfur minn ħtieġa – sofferta – li jleħħen il-misteru li kontinwament iħossu jegħreq fih: il-misteru tal-ħajja umana maqbuda fil-vortiċi tal-għatx għall-Assolut.

Għal Galea jidher li m’hemmx possibiltà ta’ ħruġ ’il barra minn dan il-vortiċi. Il-ħames ġabriet ta’ poeżija li ppubblika sa issa huma xhieda ta’ vjaġġ bla kompromessi lejn profonditajiet fejn l-għera hi tremenda daqskemm hi essenzjali.

Born in Malta in 1965, Joe P. Galea read Theology at the University of Malta. For 14 years he led a solitary life as a hermit in the Umbrian mountains in Italy.

His writing emanates from an agonising need to express the mystery which incessantly engulfs him: the mystery of human life caught in a vortex of thirst for the Absolute.

Galea sees no way out of this vortex. His five collections of poetry already published give witness to an uncompromising journey towards depths where bareness is as overwhelming as much as it is essential.

 

 
Rodolfo Häsler
 
Rodolfo Häsler twieled Santiago de Cuba fl-1958, u ilu jgħix Barċellona sa minn meta kellu 10 snin. Kiteb tmien kotba tal-poeżija. L-iktar xogħlijiet reċenti huma Cabeza de ébano (Igitur), maqlub f’sitt lingwi, u Diario de la urraca (Mangos de Hacha). Il-kitbiet tiegħu dehru wkoll f’diversi antoloġija, fosthom fl-Antología de poesía latinoamericana del siglo XXI (Difácil, 2007). Häsler qaleb l-opra kollha ta’ Novalis mill-Ġermaniż u xi novelli ta’ Kafka. Häsler huwa wkoll koeditur tar-rivista Poesía-Barcelona.
 

Rodolfo Häsler nació en 1958 en Santiago de Cuba y desde los diez años reside en Barcelona. Estudió Letras en la universidad de Lausanne, Suiza. Tiene editados los siguientes libros: Poemas de arena (Editorial E.R., Barcelona, 1982), Tratado de licantropía (Editorial Endymión, Madrid, 1988), Elleife (premio Aula de Poesía de Barcelona 1992, Editorial El Bardo, Barcelona, 1993), De la belleza del puro pensamiento (beca de la Oscar B. Cintas Foundation de Nueva York 1993, Editorial El Bardo, Barcelona, 1997), Poemas de la rue de Zurich (Miguel Gómez Ediciones, Málaga, 2000), Paisaje, tiempo azul (Editorial Aldus, México D.F., 2001), Cabeza de ébano (Ediciones Igitur, Barcelona, 2007) –  este último libro ha sido traducido al italiano, macedonio, portugués, francés y parcialmente al alemán – , y Diario de la urraca (Editorial Mangos de Hacha, Ciudad de México, 2013), además de Antología poética (Editorial Pequeña Venecia, Caracas, 2005) y Antología de Tenerife (Ediciones Idea, Tenerife, 2007) y ha publicado la plaquette Mariposa y caballo (El Toro de Barro, Cuenca, 2002). Ha sido incluido en numerosas antologías de poesía latinoamericana y española. Ha traducido la poesía completa de Novalis (DVD Ediciones, Barcelona, 2001), los minirelatos de Kafka (Editorial Thule, Barcelona, 2006) y Los instantes silenciosos de la poeta francesa Cécile Oumhani, y es responsavble de la edición de la antología de la poeta boliviana Blanca Wiethüchter, El festín de la flama (Editorial La Cabra, Ciudad de México, 2012).

Rodolfo Häsler was born in 1958 in Santiago de Cuba. He studied Literature at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. A poet and translator, Häsler’s poems have been published in several volumes. His work has been presented in numerous anthologies, including Anthologie de la Poésie Cubaine du XXème. Siècle and Nueva Poesía Latinoamericana, and translated into English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish. He has translated the complete poems of Novalis into Spanish, and also the translated Kafka. Häsler has been living in Barcelona since 1968, where he is co-editor of Poesía-Barcelona magazine.

 
 

 
Elias Khoury - 1
 

Elias Khoury huwa awtur, ġurnalista, professur universitarju u intellettwali Libaniż ta’ fama internazzjonali. Khoury twieled fl-1948 f’familja Ortodossa Griega fid-distrett fil-biċċa l-kbira Nisrani ta’ Ashrafiyye f’Bejrut. F’dik is-sena, ir-refuġjati Palestinjani ħarbu lejn il-Libanu u l-Ġordan minħabba t-tindif etniku li kien qed iseħħ f’bosta partijiet tal-Palestina ta’ dak iż-żmien. Studja s-soċjoloġija u l-istorja f’universitajiet f’Bejrut u Pariġi. Waqt il-gwerra ċivili Libaniża li faqqgħet fl-1975, indarab sew u għal xi żmien tilef id-dawl t’għajnejh. L-ewwel ktieb li ppubblika kien xogħol ta’ kritika letterarja fl-1974. Is-sena ta’ wara ħareġ l-ewwel rumanz tiegħu, u sar mill-ewwel wieħed mill-kittieba ewlenin fl-avangwardja tal-letteratura moderna Għarbija. Minbarra għadd kbir ta’ rumanzi, ippubblika ġabra ta’ novelli, erba’ kotba ta’ kritika letterarja, u kiteb tliet drammi li nħadmu f’Bejrut u għadd ta’ bliet fl-Ewropa. Jikteb ukoll il-films u jxandar l-artikli b’mod regolari fil-gazzetti. Skont Edward W. Said, “Elias Khoury is an artist giving voice to rooted exiles and trapped refugees, to dissolving boundaries and changing identities, to radical demands and new languages.” Għallem f’diversi universitajiet f’Bejrut u l-Istati Uniti tal-Amerika. Khoury jemmen li bħala rumanzier xogħlu mhuwiex li jikteb l-Istorja. “Xogħli hu li nuża l-istejjer u nagħmel ir-riċerka biex noħloq l-immaġinarju. Fil-letteratura tmiss mal-immaġinarju mhux mar-realtà. Ir-realtà tinsab biss fl-isfond.” Fl-2016 rebah il-Premju prestiġjuż ta’ Mahmoud Darwish għall-Kreattività u ta l-25,000 dollaru Amerikan li ngħata lill-Università ta’ Birzeit fl-artijiet okkupati tal-Palestina.

The Lebanese writer Elias Khoury was born in 1948 into a Greek Orthodox middle-class family in the predominantly Christian Ashrafiyye district of Beirut. This was the year that Palestinian refugees fled to Lebanon and Jordan because of the ethnic cleansing in many parts of historic Palestine. He studied Sociology and History at the Lebanese University in Beirut and the University of Paris. After returning to Lebanon, Khoury became a researcher at the Palestine Liberation Organization’s research centre in Beirut. He took part in the Lebanese civil war that broke out in 1975, was seriously injured, and temporarily lost his eyesight.

Khoury began his career as a literary critic with his book, Searching for a Horizon: The Arabic Novel After the Defeat of 1967 (1974). He then published his first novel, On the Relations of the Circle (1975), and became part of the Beirut vanguard in modern Arabic literature, which was seeking to create new dimensions in the movement of modernism which began in the late forties with a revolution in poetry. He served on the editorial board of Mawakif Quarterly, and as the managing editor of Shu’un Falastinia (Palestine Affairs) and of Al Karmel Quarterly.

Professor Khoury has published 13 novels and one collection of short stories which have been translated into numerous languages, four books of literary criticism, and many articles and reviews. His latest novel, published in 2016, The Children of the Ghetto. My Name is Adam (Awlad el-ghetto. Esmi Adam), as yet untranslated into English. He is also known as a playwright, and his three plays have been performed in Beirut, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Basel. Professor Khoury has participated in writing two films, and he worked as a journalist, serving as Director and Editor-In-Chief of Mulhak, the weekly literary supplement of the An-Nahar Daily in Beirut.

Elias Khoury is a public intellectual who plays a major role in the Arabic cultural scene and in the defence of the liberty of expression and democracy. He is also a cultural activist who directed the theatre of Beirut and co-directed the Ayloul Festival of Modern Arts in Beirut. His academic career includes his work as a Professor at Columbia University, the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and the Lebanese American University.

Khoury believes that as a novelist it is not his job to write history. “My job is to use stories and to do research in order to create the imaginary. In literature you deal with the imaginary not with reality. Reality is only a background.”

According to Edward W. Said, “Elias Khoury is an artist giving voice to rooted exiles and trapped refugees, to dissolving boundaries and changing identities, to radical demands and new languages.”

In 2016 Khoury won the prestigious Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity and donated his USD 25,000 award to Birzeit University.

 

Novels:

Awlad el-ghetto. Esmi Adam

The Children of the Ghetto. My name is Adam

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 2016, 423 p.

Sinalcol 

Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 2012

Ka’annaha Na’ima

As Though She Were Sleeping

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 2007, 392 p.

Yalo

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 2002, 381 p.

Ra’ihat al-sabun

The Smell of Soap

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 2000, 91 p.

Bab al-shams

Gate of the Sun

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1998, 1999, 527 p.

Majma‘ al-asrarThe Box of Secrets

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1994, 208 p.

Mamlakat al-ghuraba’

The Kingdom of Strangers

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1993, 128 p.

Rihlat Ghandi al-saghir

The Journey of Little Gandhi

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1989, 2000, 208 p.

Al-wujuh al-bayda’

White Masks

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1981, 1986

Abwab al-madina

City Gates

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1981, 1990 112 p.

Al-jabal al-saghir

Little Mountain

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1977, 1984, 163 p.

‘An alaqat al-da’ira Regarding the Relations of the Circle

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1975, 1985

Short Stories:

Al-mubtada’ wal-khabar

Beirut: Dar al-Adab 1984


Ciwanmerd Kulek

Ciwanmerd Kulek twieled fl-1984 f’raħal fix-xlokk tat-Turkija, fir-reġjun tal-Kurdi, u jgħix f’Bismil, fil-provinċja ta’ Diyarbakır fejn jgħallem il-lingwi. Studja t-tagħlim tal-lingwi barranin fil-Middle East Technical University ta’ Ankara u ggradwar fl-2006. Kiteb tliet rumanzi bil-Kurd li ħarġu minn dar tal-pubblikazzjonijiet f’Diyarbakir: Nameyek ji Xwedê re (Ittra lil Alla, 2007) Otobês (Il-Karozza tal-Linja, 2010), u Zarokên Ber Çêm (Tfal maġenb ix-Xmara, 2012). Qaleb ħafna xogħlijiet letterarji mill-Ingliż, l-Ispanjol u t-Tork għall-Kurd, fosthom ta’ awturi bħal J. M. Coetzee (Disgrace) u William Faulkner (As I Lay Dying), u hemm traduzzjonijiet ta’ xogħlijiet bħal Cronica de una muerte anunciada ta’ Gabriel García Márquez u White Castle ta’ Orhan Pamuk li qed jitħejjew għall-istampa.

Ciwanmerd Kulek was born in 1984 in the Kurdish region of Turkey, in a village in the southeastern part of the country, and has lived in Bismil, a small town by the river Tigris, in the Diyarbakır province, where he works as a teacher of languages. He graduated from the Foreign Language Teaching Department of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara in 2006. He is the author of three novels in Kurdish, published by the Diyarbakir-based press Weşanên Lîs, Nameyek ji Xwedê re (A Letter To God, 2007) Otobês (The Bus, 2010) Zarokên Ber Çêm (Children By The River, 2012) . He has translated literary works from English, Spanish and Turkish into Kurdish, by writers such as J. M. Coetzee (Disgrace) and William Faulkner (As I Lay Dying), while other translations by Gabriel García Márquez (Cronica de una muerte anunciada), Juan Rulfo (El Llano en llamas), James Joyce (Dubliners) and Orhan Pamuk (White Castle) are being prepared for publication.


 
Daniel Massa - Times of Malta
 

Daniel Massa, li twieled fl-1936, huwa poeta ewlieni li jikteb bil-Malti u bl-Ingliż. Bħala professur tal-letteratura Ingliża, xandar għadd ta’ studji dwar l-Umaniżmu tar-Rinaxximent u l-letteratura tal-Commonwealth. Fl-2005 mexxa l-ġurija li tat il-Premju tal-Kittieba tal-Commonwealth. Fl-1989 ħareġ ġabra ta’ poeżija bil-Malti li kkonfermat il-pożizzjoni tiegħu bħala poeta ewlieni. Fl-2013 ħareġ il-ktieb ta’ 900 paġna, PSI Kingmaker: Life, Thought and Adventures of Peter Serracino Inglott, u fl-2015 ippubblika ġabra tal-poeżiji tiegħu bl-Ingliż, Barefoot in the Saltpans,

Fid-daħla tiegħu għall-ġabra Xibkatuliss, Peter Serracino Inglott jikteb li fil-poeżija ta’ Massa, “hemm żgur il-kultura Maltija. Hemm il-valuri tradizzjonali tagħna. Fi żmien ta’ kriżi tal-familja, Massa jibqa’ jikteb poeżija amoruża li tagħti post lill-mara xejn inqas minn dak ta’ Penelope fl-Odissea. Jikteb ukoll bħala pater familias, aktarx b’ċerta ironija kif jixraq fl-aħħar kwart tas-seklu għoxrin, imma wkoll ximindaqqiet b’ċerta solennità retorika. L-aqwa baħar jibqa’ dak tal-imħabba. Tal-bnedmin u ta’ Alla. Imma l-kultura Maltija ta’ Daniel Massa mhijiex kultura provinċjali. Il-kitba tiegħu hija miżgħuda b’riferenzi ċari jew sottili għal kitbiet tal-predeċessuri, u sikwit isservi bħala medjazzjoni ta’ testi oħra, skond il-vokazzjoni tal-poplu Malti li jagħmilha ta’ ħuttab bejn kulturi diversi, ta’ pont bejn xtut opposti, ta’ interpretu bejn ilsna ta’ kull nisel. L-oriġinalità qatt m’hi bidu mix-xejn, imma bidla minn xi ħaġa oħra. Karatteristika tal-poeżija ta’ Daniel Massa dejjem kienet dik li jorbot il-ħajja personali mal-ġrajja tal-pajjiż. Tul dawn l-aħħar snin kien hemm żewġ aspetti tal-istorja ta’ gżiritna li jispikkaw fil-mera, refrattarja barra milli riflettiva, tal-versi ta’ Massa: id-diżastru ekoloġiku u l-barbariżmu fil-ħajja politika. U kontriehom Massa jsejjaħ għall-ħarsien tal-ambjent naturali u għar-ritorn lejn iċ-ċiviltà fl-eżerċizzju tal-poter. L-avangwardja letterarja organizzata tas-snin sittin xoljiet. Imma jidher li dan ftit għamillu differenza lil Massa. Xorta waħda baqa’, għalkemm f’ċertu iżolament, jikteb b’toni differenti f’ċirkostanzi jinbidlu, poeżija li jiena nqisha l-aħjar f’pajjiżna ta’ żmieni.”

 
A leading poet in Maltese and English, Daniel Massa (b.1936) has published widely on Renaissance Humanism and Commonwealth Literature. In 2005 he chaired the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In 1989 he published a collection of his poems in Maltese which confirmed his standing as a leading poet. In 2013 he published a 900-page biography, PSI Kingmaker: Life, Thought and Adventures of Peter Serracino Inglott. His collection of poetry in English, Barefoot in the Saltpans, is characterised by seascape imagery, gripping in its vividness and physicality. In his foreword, Jim Crace says that in Daniel Massa’s poetry, “as in, a parachute jump the reader steps out, plummets soars is fearful rapturous and grounded… towards these profound, hurtling and secretive pieces, these fearless and demanding works. The distinctive triumph of Daniel Massa is that unfailingly throughout this current collection he demonstrates his exceptional-skill at writing in English with the intimacy of a native speaker without stifling the cadence and percussion of his home language. His work is accented both to the ear and even – unvoiced – on the page. It is wind-blown, salty, sun-kissed and unambiguously Mediterranean… take deep pleasure from the abandonment and control of Daniel Massa’s voice, witness him take risks with the intrepid precision of a tightrope walker.”
 
 

 
marc-nair-costa-CA
Mark Nair (Photo: Costa)
 

Marc Nair huwa poeta u fotografu minn Singapore. Ippubblika l-poeżiji tiegħu f’sitt volumi ta’ poeżija u f’diversi antoloġiji. L-iktar ġabra reċenti tiegħu hija Spomenik, sensiela ta’ poeżiji u ritratti mill-Balkani. Matul l-2015, kien il-kittieb residenti f’Gardens by the Bay f’Singapore stess, waqt li vvjaġġa bl-aħħar kollezzjoni tiegħu ta’ poeżiji mitkellma, The Poet of Unlove fl-Indoneżja, il-Filippini, l-Olanda, u l-Ġermanja. Huwa wkoll idoqq b’mod regolari mal-grupp tiegħu Neon and the Wonder, u huwa wieħed mill-fundaturi ta’ Mackerel, rivista kulturali online. marcnair.com | mackerel.life

 
Marc Nair has published six volumes of poetry. His latest collection is Spomenik, a series of poems and photographs from the Balkans. Marc was the 2015 Writer-In-Residence at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. He has performed spoken word poetry for over ten years in more than ten countries. Marc also sets his poems to music with his band, Neon and Wonder, and is the co-founder of Mackerel, a culture magazine.
marcnair.com | mackerel.life
 
 

 
Abderrahim Sail Sete 2015

 

Abderrahim Sail twieled fl-1975 f’Safi, belt Marokkina li tinsab fuq ix-xatt tal-Atlantiku. Ilu jaħdem bħala għalliem tal-primarja mill-1996. Huwa jemmen li l-ħajja li jiltaqa’ magħha kuljum hija falza u li jeħtieg li tissewwa bil-poeżija, dik li tinkiteb kemm bl-id fuq karta kif ukoll bil-fomm fl-arja.

Flimkien ma’ poeti Marokkini oħra, Abderrahim Sail kien imdaħħal fit-twaqqif ta’ “Épisode littéraire”, sensiela ta’ inkontri poetiċi maħsuba biex in-nies issir iktar midħla tal-poeti Marokkini tar-reġjuni differenti tal-pajjiż. Fl-2015 ħa sehem fil-festival internazzjonali ewlieni tal-poeżija Voix Vives, de Méditerranée en Méditerranée li jsir f’Sète, fin-nofsinhar ta’ Franza.

 

Abderrahim Sail is a Moroccan poet, born on 15 April 1975 in Safi, a Moroccan city on the Atlantic coast. He has been working as a primary school teacher since 1996. He believes that the life he meets everyday is false and that it has to be rectified through poetry, that which is written by hand on paper and that which is written by the mouth in the air.

With other Moroccan poetry, he was involved in the setting up of “Episode littéraire” to make Moroccan poets living both in the interior and in the coastal regions better known through poetry encounters. In 2015 he read at Voix Vives, de Méditerranée en Méditerranée, a major international poetry festival held in Sète, in the south of France.

Abderrahim Sail est un poète marocain, né le 15 avril 1975 à Safi, ville marocaine sur l’océan Atlantique. Il travaille comme instituteur de l’enseignement primaire depuis 1996. Il croit que la vie qu’il rencontre tous les jours est fausse et qu’il faut la corriger avec la poésie, soit par une écriture de la main sur une feuille ou par une écriture de la bouche dans l’air.

Avec d’autres poètes marocains, il a participé à la création de «Episode littéraire», pour faire connaître les poètes marocains de l’intérieur et de l’extérieur, lors de rencontres poétiques. Il a participé au festival international de la poésie à Sète en France, Voix Vives, de Méditerranée en Méditerranée, en 2015.

 

 
Rita Saliba
 

Rita Saliba hija waħda mill-awturi tas-sensiela ta’ kotba għall-iskejjel, fosthom Senduq Buffuri u Senduq Kuluri, Kalejdoskopju u dot.mt. Kevin u Qatraxita, ktejjeb għat-tfal ta’ bejn is-7 u t-8snin ġie ppubblikat fl-2002. Hija awtriċi ta’Psst Psst Buuk Buuk, Stejjer mill-birdpark (2013), In-Naffar li Xtaq Itir (2015), Il-Buffu Mistħi (2016). Storja oħra minn tagħha għat-tfal tidher flimkien ma’ ta’ awturi oħra fil-pubblikazzjoni, Ejjew Naqraw lit-Tfal iż-Żgħar. Saliba qed taħdem fuq żewġ kotba oħra tat-tfal li se jiġu ppubblikati din is-sena. Fl-2009 ħadet it-tielet premju f’konkors imniedi mill-Għaqda Poeti Maltin.Rita Saliba kellha għal qalbha l-kitba għall-adolexxenti. Rebħet il-Konkors Nazzjonali ta’ kitba għaż-żgħażagħ u adolexxenti tliet darbiet bir-rumanzi tagħha Inżull ix-Xemx (2011), u Bella Berger (2013) u Il-Kulur tal-Lellux fil-konkors imniedi fl-2015. Fl-2014 ittraduċiet mit-Taljan żewġ rumanzi oħra għall-adolexxenti, Il-Misteru tad-Dniefel tal-Ġebel u l-Misteru tal-Labirint.

Madankollu Rita tħoss il-bżonn li tesprimi ruħha f’kitba għall-adulti wkoll. Xi kitbiet tagħha dehru flimkien ma’ ta’ awturi oħra f’pubblikazzjonijiet bħal Kieku l-Ikel Jitkellem 2009 u Skariġġi 2012. Kitbet ukoll numru ta’ novelli qosra tal-ġeneru flash fiction li wħud minnhom huma ppubblikati f’antoloġija bl-isem ta’ Għidli Mitejn maħruġa fl-2014. Novelli oħra ta’ Rita Saliba ġew ippubblikati f’Leħen il-Malti maħruġ mill-Għaqda tal-Malti Università u f’Il-Malti ppubblikat mill-Akkademja tal-Malti. Saliba ħarġet il-ġabra ta’ novelli tagħha, Satin, fl-2014.

 


 

mark vella
Mark Vella (timesofmalta.com)

 

Mark Vella huwa l-awtur tar-rumanz X’Seta Ġralu lil Kevin Cacciattolo? (2014), li rebaħ il-kompetizzjoni #abbozz organizzata mill-pubblikaturi Merlin għal manuskritti mhux ippubblikati. Qabel dan il-ktieb, Vella ppubblika Ġrajja Maltija – In-Novelli ta’ Juann Mamo (KKM 2010), antoloġija kritika u annotata tan-novelli mhux ippubblikati ta’ dan l-awtur ewlieni. Mark Vella xandar ukoll żewġ novelli f’Leħen il-Malti.

Huwa jgħix u jaħdem fil-Lussemburgu, fejn imexxi unità tat-traduzzjoni fi ħdan id-Direttorat Ġenerali għat-Traduzzjoni tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea. Qabel ma telaq minn Malta kien jgħallem il-Malti f’livelli differenti u ħoloq id-dar tal-pubblikazzjoni Minima li ppreżentat għadd ta’ awturi ġodda lill-pubbliku Malti u tat sehem fil-qawmien ġdid li beda seħħ fil-letteratura Maltija fis-snin disgħin tas-seklu għoxrin.

Mark Vella‘s first novel X’Seta’ Ġralu lil Kevin Cacciattolo? (What Could Have Happened to Kevin Cacciattolo?) was published by Merlin in 2014, after having won the #abbozz competition for unpublished manuscripts. Vella is also the anthologist of Juann Mamo’s short stories published in Ġrajja Maltija: In-Novelli ta’ Juann Mamo (KKM, 2010). He has also published some short fiction in Leħen il-Malti.

Vella works and resides in Luxembourg, and is a Head of Unit within Maltese Department for Translation of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation. Previously, Vella taught Maltese at different levels and was the founder and manager of the one-man show publishing house Minima that brought a series of new authors to a wider reading public and somehow participated in kick-starting the contemporary literary revival in Malta.


 

Abigail Ardelle Zammit colour-17
 

Abigail Ardelle Zammit (Malta, 1976) has been writing poetry since the age of eleven. Although her first verses were in Maltese, she now writes solely in the English language. In 2005 Abigail obtained a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Lancaster, following which, Voices from the Land of Trees, which takes its inspiration from Guatemala’s violent past, was published by Smokestack (UK, 2007). The poet Graham Mort describes her first collection as “a visceral and moving work. Angry and compassionate, Zammit’s own voice discovers an excoriating yet redemptive timbre, confronting oppression and suffering whilst remaining true to moral complexity and ambivalence.”

In the last few years, Abigail has had poems published in a number of British and Canadian journals. In 2015 Abigail won second prize in the Sentinel (UK) Poetry Book Competition and consequently, her second collection, Portrait of a Woman with Sea Urchin was published and launched in London in December 2015.  The judges Andy Willoughby and Bob Beagrie described Portrait of a Woman with Sea Urchin as “a sensual and passionate collection” which “makes the language sing.  The poet shows a keen eye for focused detail that moves beyond mere picture-making into layers of symbolism and metamorphosis.  Abigail A Zammit displays a capacity for speaking through masks, shifting personae without losing a coherent sense of voice.”  Abigail believes that through its recreation of place, memory and desire, her most recent collection has allowed her to explore the relationship between text, body, landscape and coastal geographies.

Abigail holds a PhD in Creative Writing (Lancaster, UK), is a lecturer in English at the G.F. Abela Junior College and Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Malta.