The Malta Independent on Sunday
Making surrealistic 2020 worth living
CHARLES CASHA was born at Marsa on 21st September, 1943. After completing a two-year course at St Michael’s Training College he joined the Education Department. In 1970 he started teaching Maltese in the Secondary Schools. He was also a school librarian for twenty-six years and retired from the Department in 2004. In 1982 he was awarded a certificate in Library Techniques following a course at the University of Malta from where, in 1985 he received a Diploma in Language Studies (Maltese). Charles is married to Mary nee Casingena and they have three children – Stefanja, Mark and Kristjana – and five grandsons. Here he talks largely about his work as an author “Forty-eight years ago, I started keeping a personal diary. Who would have told me that I would be referring to the 2020 entries to write this COVID
Diary.
When the dreaded Corona virus started its rounds in Malta, my wife Mary and I received a letter from the Health Department certifying us as Vulnerable Senior Citizens. So, like other senior citizens, we had to adapt to a new way of life and get used to wearing a face mask. Our greatest disappointment was not being able to get to know our grandson Nick who was born just before the lockdown.
Soon after published by Professor Charles Briffa, an analytical study of my publications. Having an academic write a critical study of my literary works was something to which I had been looking forward. When Professor Briffa decided to do it, I was enthusiastic to collaborate in this enlightening experience. I was looking forward to the official launching of the book, when all plans had to be abandoned owing to the COVID-19 restrictions.
Klabb Kotba Maltin Ruħu Dejjem Tfittex,
During the official partial lockdown I decided to contribute indirectly to students who were following lessons on line. I made audio and visual recordings of some of my short stories which I uploaded or sent directly to schools.
Later I was contacted by the editorial board of Sagħtar to write eight stories for the magazine which was going to be relaunched, this time online.
be very relaxing. I ended up with over 30 puzzles (Tislibiet).
The work on two new books, one a collection of short stories
for adults and a book of micro stories which is now ready for publication, kept me occupied for the rest of the summer.
During the same week that the book by Professor Briffa was on sale, Klabb Kotba Maltin, with the collaboration of The National Agency for Litterism, published my book for children L-Għasfur Tal-Kwiekeb, illustrated by Matthew Stroud. The story is about a young girl called Tamara, whose greatest wish was to count the stars. These two new publications boosted my morale.
During the second wave of COVID-19, I adapted another story about the pranks of the iconic character Fra Mudest, which I created back in 1967 for Children’s Own. These adapted single stories are aimed for children aged 7+ with a font and paper designed to help dyslexic children. The first two in this series have already been published.
When schools reopened I was kept busy by requests to meet students online and talk about my books and my career as a writer. Later, on the 30th December 2020, the National Agency for Litterism organized a morning session of workshops on creative writing for students on line. I was one of the authors invited to take part. I was impressed with what some of these young students managed to produce.
The COVID-19 restrictions provided ample time to do something which I had been aiming to do for quite a long time. I collected the recorded interviews (audio and visual) I had made over the years. Together with readings of my short stories and novels, all these are now organized under the appropriate titles on a hard disk with a back up. This kept me occupied for days on end as most of them had to be converted. Watching or listening to some of these recordings, brought a sense of nostalgia.
Being locked in and advised to avoid crowded places, we found a way to have our weekly shopping delivered to our home by two very efficient and kind persons, Noel and Matthew, whom I would like to thank publicly.
Not being able to go abroad was a great disappointment, but keeping busy was the solution. If I were asked what I missed most this year, I would definitely say, all the family celebrations and get togethers.
On Christmas day my wife prepared Christmas lunch as she does every year. Of course this time it was just the two of us. But Mary came out with a bright idea. She placed photos of our children and their families on the table and later we had video chats.
Our daughter who is a physiotherapist in UK sent us a link called Make Movement Your Mission, which specializes in keeping elderly people fit. This helped us immensely as we could not take the usual long walks and I was spending more time at my computer.
Towards the end of 2020 I was pleasantly surprised when a librarian at the National Library of Paris, informed me that the library had purchased four of my publications in Maltese. Later on my books, Papers in a tin box and The Swans at St Ives and other stories (translated into English) were added to the National Library of Paris catalogue on line.
I must say that COVID-19 has imposed many limitations but it gave me the opportunity to delve deeper in what I could do with all that time indoors and thanks to video chats, my wife and I kept contact with our children and grandchildren on a regular basis.