National Book Prize 2015 shortlist announced

The National Book Council can announce the shortlist for this year's edition of the National Book Prize. 

The shortlist, composed by the Independent Adjudication Board of the National Book Prize, serves as a sample of the best books published locally in the previous year. 

These books are available for purchase from all general bookstores or at the upcoming Malta Book Festival, 4-8 November, Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta. 

The winning publications will be announced during a ceremony at Castille in December.

The categories - and corresponding shortlisted works - are as follows: 

Literary Work: The Novel
L-Iskjav ta’ Isabel by Audrey Friggieri (Horizons)
Jutta Heim by Immanuel Mifsud (Klabb Kotba Maltin)
Fi Nżul ix-Xemx Sabiħ by Pupull Debattista Borg (Dom Communications Ltd.)
Bajjuni Nġurmati by John Charles Betts (Klabb Kotba Maltin)
Two by Teodor Reljić (Merlin Publishers)
Iż-Żeffiena tal-Kerubini by Carlo O. D’Emanuele (Horizons)

Literary Work: The Short Story
Feruti by Carmel Scicluna (Horizons)
Kulħadd ħalla isem warajh by Clare Azzopardi (Merlin Publishers)
INSANIAM by Edgar Formosa (Horizons)
Satin by Rita Saliba (Horizons)

Literary Work: Poetry
Epistoli mid-deżert - Poeżiji u Poesaġġi by Mario Azzopardi (Horizons)
Fi Triqti Lejha by Walid Nabhan (Klabb Kotba Maltin)
taħt il-kpiepel t’għajnejja by Maria Grech Ganado (Klabb Kotba Maltin)
Klessidra: Versi taż-Żmien Maħrub by Lilian Sciberras (Horizons)
Mirja – Ħamsin Sena ta’ Poeżija 1963-2013 by Philip Sciberras (Sciberras Associates Publishing)

Literary Work: Drama
Jum il-Ħaqq by Doris Vella Camilleri (Self Published)

General Research
Bormla: A Struggling Community by Josann Cutajar (Faraxa Publishing)
Translation Studies from Malta ed. by Charles Briffa (Malta University Publishing)
Musical Instruments of the Maltese Islands: History, Folkways and Traditions by Anna Borg Cardona (Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti)
Shostakovich, Britten, Stravinsky and the Painters in Between: 1936 by Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci (Horizons)
Does it matter who speaks? Postmodern Papers on Politics, Ethics and Education by Kenneth Wain (Malta University Press)
The Maltese Nineteenth-Century Notary and his Archives by Michael Refalo (Book Distributors Limited)

Historiographic Research
The Social and Religious History of a Maltese Parish: St. Mary’s Qrendi in the Eighteenth Century by Frans Ciappara (Malta University Press)
Journal of Maltese Studies 28: Essays on the Cantilena ed. by Dr. Bernard Micallef (Midsea Books Limited)
M.A. Vassalli 1764-1829 - An Enlightened Maltese Reformer by Frans Ciappara (Midsea Books Limited)
France in the Maltese Collective Memory - Perceptions, Perspectives, Identities after Bonaparte in British Malta by Charles Xuereb (Malta University Press)
Mattia Preti - Saints and Heroes for the Knights of Malta by Cynthia de Giorgio (Midsea Books Limited)
Qrendi – its people and their heritage by George Cassar (Kunsill Lokali Qrendi)
Il-Prefazju Storiku ta’ L-Mylsen Feniċju-Puniku jew Il-Grammatika tal-Malti ta’ Mikiel Anton Vassalli by Prof. Horatio Ceasar Roger Vella (Klabb Kotba Maltin)
L-Avukat Giuseppe Elia Pace 1742-1820: Ħabib ta’ M.A. Vassalli f’Ruma by Karmenu Bonavia (Klabb Kotba Maltin)
The Salter Album - Encounters in Malta’s Prisoner of War Camps, 1914-1920 by Charles Farrugia (National Archives of Malta)

Translation
Nimirħu maż-Żmien by Marlene Saliba (Faraxa Publishing)
Neżlin bħax-Xita by Toni Aquilina (Fondation de Malte)
Is-Sur Ibrahim u l-Fjuri fil-Koran by Toni Aquilina (Faraxa Publishing)
Salammbȏ by Paul Zahra (Self Published)