Mark Vella reads from Ulied in-Nanna Venut fl-Amerka by Juann Mamo Mark Vella reads an excerpt from Ulied in-Nanna Venut fl-Amerka by Juann Mamo, originally published in parts between 1930 and 1931, and republished by SKS. Ulied in-Nanna Venut fl-Amerka is unanimously considered to be a cult novel. The book focuses on social and political life in early 20th-century Malta. In the author’s own words at the time, Ulied in-Nanna Venut fl-Amerka is meant to be a satirical, descriptive and...

Sab Mulligan reads from Having Said Goodnight by Pierre J. Mejlak. Sab Mulligan reads ‘I went to see her’ from the short story collection Having Said Goodnight (Merlin Publishers, 2015) by Pierre J. Mejlak, and translated by Antoine Cassar. In this captivating collection of stories, people are often at a crossroads, moving from one point in their existence to another, trying to understand a life they have lived but perhaps never fully comprehended; in ‘I went to see her’ a son sets off on a...

Nadia Mifsud Mutschler reads from De Profundis by Doreen Micallef. Poet Nadia Mifsud Mutschler reads two poems from Doreen Micallef’s collection De Profundis published in 1979 by Klabb Kotba Maltin. The first short poem ‘Meditazzjoni’ opens the collection, while ‘De Profundis’, after which the book is named, is one of the major works of Doreen Micallef. Her poems originate from a complex personality that carries an excruciating pain, mostly due to the fact that she was born with a physical...

Kenneth Scicluna reads from the twenty-ninth day and thirtieth night from Antoine Cassar’s Erbgħin Jum, a book-length poem. The book moves through forty days and forty nights narrating long walks, real or metaphorical, inducing reflections on childhood trauma, depression and walking as self-therapy. It was awarded with the Malta National Book Prize for Poetry in 2018 and has been shortlisted for the 2020 Gdansk European Poet of Freedom Award. The author Antoine Cassar is a Maltese poet and...

Antonella Axisa and Mikhail Basmadjian read from Fil-Parlament Ma Jikbrux Fjuri by Oliver Friggieri. Actors Antonella Axisa and Mikhail Basmadjian read an excerpt from Oliver Friggieri’s Fil-Parlament Ma Jikbrux Fjuri, where an important dialogue about politics, philosophy and class struggle takes place between two politically estranged individuals. When the novel was published in 1986, it stirred political controversy: half of Malta ended up buying the book, while the other half shunned...

Rachelle Deguara reads from Amina by Antoinette Borg Caption: Rachelle Deguara reads chapter 29 from Amina by Antoinette Borg. Amina is a 12-year-old girl who is a Maths prodigy. She lives on patterns, rules, diagrams. She sees life in figures. If you’re standing next to her, her mind is calculating how far away you are in meters and centimetres. She wins a prestigious place in a national six-week Maths-camp. However, it turns out that she has a bigger mystery than a Maths problem to solve...

Steve Hili reads from What Happens in Brussels Stays in Brussels by Ġużè Stagno, published by Merlin Publishers in 2013.  What Happens in Brussels Stays in Brussels draws a sardonic and laugh-out-loud portrait of the Maltese abroad. The book follows a journalist and a group of constituents on a visit to Brussels’ European institutions organised by MEP Charlo Pulis. Once in Brussels, the trip degenerates into a series of small setbacks, accidents and misadventures that reflect the stereotypes...

Loranne Vella reads from Il-Manifest tal-Killer by Karl Schembri. Author Loranne Vella reads an excerpt from Karl Schembri’s novel Il-Manifest tal-Killer, first published in 2006. Il-Manifest tal-Killer had a difficult time being born. Initially, publishing houses turned it down, considering it as too vulgar.Described by poet Mario Azzopardi as the very first example of anarchic literature in Malta, the novel deals a lot with the issue of censorship and the sacred right of the citizen to...

Sharon Bezzina reads from Il-Linja l-Ħadra by Clare Azzopardi. Actress Sharon Bezzina reads the short-story ‘Jelly Babies’ from from Il-Linja l-Ħadra, a collection of original short-stories which includes a few that were originally published in English. Characterised by a unique narrative strategy, Clare’s prose is yet imbued with the ostensive familiarity of the subject matter. She manages to tell unpredictable stories by avoiding excessive stylisation and depicting the normal people...

Mikhail Basmadjian reads from Fl-Isem tal-Missier (u tal-Iben) by Immanuel Mifsud. Actor Mikhail Basmadjian reads from the first chapter of Immanuel Mifsud’s moving autobiographical book Fl-isem tal-Missier (u tal-Iben) (Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2010). Mifsud, the youngest son born to a soldier in the British army revisits his father’s diary, aged 19, written in 1939. Prompted by the death of his father and the birth of his son, Mifsud weaves a subversive narrative concerning family...

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