Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival enters 19th edition

Inizjamed’s nineteenth edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival will take place at the Valletta Design Cluster and the MCAST Campus in Paola between Wednesday 28 and Saturday 31 August 2024.

The festival will feature seven authors from five different countries: Malika Booker – a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian parentage, Irene Chias – an Italian novelist residing in Malta, David Aloisio from Malta, Mario Cardona, also from Malta, Raymond Antrobus from the United Kingdom, Josep Pedrals from Catalonia, and Maja Ručević from Croatia.

Readings will be mostly in Maltese and English, but some short works will also be read in their original language.

Rounding off the experience will be jazz band The Hinge Project led by Jes Psaila, food and drinks by POPP, and just as importantly, a book stall featuring the works of the guest authors and more.

This year’s festival is supported by Arts Council Malta through the Investment in Cultural Organisations fund, MCAST, APS, and Versopolis.

On Friday 2 August, a reading for the elderly will be organised at St Vincent De Paule. Priscilla Cassar will lead a closed event during which Mario Cardona will read his poems accompanied by a couple of musicians, Carol Ciantar and Beatriz Tomás.

On Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 August, workshops with children were held in Attard and Qormi. These were led by David Aloisio.

On Wednesday 28, Malika Booker will deliver a masterclass at 4pm at the Valletta Design Cluster.

Thursday 29 August

The first evening will be a multilingual Open Mic with the participation of the guest authors and other special guests at the Valletta Design Cluster. The event is free of charge and doors open at 7:30pm.

Friday 30 August

At 7.00pm, an event will be held with Claudio Berochia, an interdisciplinary artist hailing from Italy. This event is free of charge and is co-organised with Spazju Kreattiv.

The Festival will kick off at 8pm. The writers reading during this evening are Mario Cardona, Irene Chias, Josep Pedrals and Maja Ručević. The night will also feature performances by the Hinge Project, featuring musicians Jes Psaila, Mark Attard, Luke Briffa and André Micallef. Tickets from ShowsHappening.com.

Saturday 31 August

The writers reading tonight are David Aloisio, Malika Booker and Raymond Antrobus. The night will also feature performances by the Hinge Project, featuring musicians Jes Psaila, Mark Attard, Luke Briffa and André Micallef. Tickets from ShowsHappening.com.

The authors will be in Malta throughout the week of the festival to take part in the Literary Translation Workshop led by Nadia Mifsud and Keith Borg. They will be translating each other’s works with the translations being read during the Friday and Saturday evenings.