Over 50 activities and events at this year’s Malta Book Festival

This year’s edition of the Malta Book Festival 2017 will take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre from 8 to 12 November. This year the programme features well over 50 activities and events in book launches and presentations, conferences, talks, drama and other fun activities for children.

The events are set up either by the National Book Council or by the participants in the festival, which include Malta’s publishers, booksellers and NGOs and public agencies involved in the book industry.

The highlights for this year include a conference on Truth in fiction and non-fiction, due on the first day of the festival, in which most of the guest authors will take part. These include writer Alex Vella Gera, Kuwaiti poet and writer Shahd Alshammari, French novelist Gilbert Sinoue’ and British writer Ros Barber. The discussion will be moderated by UK journalist Rosie Goldsmith, ex-BBC journalist and founder of the European Literature Network. The latter will also be leading an important feature this year – a workshop on writing book reviews and promotional material for literature. The workshop, titled A Riveting workshop will be co-led by fellow journalist Max Easterman and will take place on Thursday, 9 November at the M.A. Grima Hall, MCC.

A much-awaited event is on Friday dedicated to the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which in 2016 was awarded to Mario Azzopardi. Azzopardi was given the award for his extensive work in literature and drama, not just as an artist, writer and theatre director but also as a critic and a person who did much to encourage Maltese writers to abandon parochial and topical themes in order to explore themes that have more social and current relevance. In this event, which will be held at Sir Temi Zammit Hall starting at 8pm, there will be readings of excerpts of Azzopardi’s work, a panel discussion and a short film featuring an interview with the personality.

Another celebrity in the local literary scene will be the focus of an event set up by Merlin Publishers. Trevor Żahra, one of the most familiar names in the local scene, will be honoured with an event dedicated to his writings and his career on the occasion of his 70th birthday. There will be discussions with the author, booksigning and even a reception after the event where members of the public can meet the renowned author.

In addition to this, all the special guests to the festival, including local author Vella Gera, will appear in events dedicated to their literary careers. Vella Gera will be talking to Teodor Reljic about his various experiences as a writer and also as a film-maker and a musician, at the Activity Area on Thursday starting 8pm.

For the first time ever the festival will feature three foreign languages, in addition to Maltese and English: French, Italian and German. German will be represented by the German Maltese Circle and the University Department of German which will be appearing as participants for the first time ever.

Members of the public are advised to follow their FB page and website for more updates. This is undoubtedly the biggest celebration of book culture in the entire cultural calendar of the country and should not be missed by all those who love books and reading.