Books, talks and more brought to you on campus

The Campus Book Festival will kick off this Wednesday at 9am at the University quadrangle, organised by the National Book Council in collaboration with Għaqda tal-Malti – Università

This is now in its sixth edition, and from its inception it has focused on providing a space for Maltese publishers and authors to promote their work with a mature audience, such as university students.

Students as well as the general public will have a chance to engage in the Festival activities, that all revolve around books: discussions, book presentations and launches, interviews, animated readings, tours, quizzes – there are plenty of events on offer across the three days. More details on all events can be found on the Campus Book Festival Facebook page. The full programme of the Campus Book Festival 2019 can be found here.

British poet, literary critic and translator Rod Mengham is the festival’s international guest.

He will be joining the public on Campus for special events scheduled on each of the three days, with a seminar on translating poetry on 27 March, a book-club style discussion with students on his latest book on 28 March, and an interview with National Book Prize winning poet Antoine Cassar on his body of work on 29 March.

In the book club session the audience will have the opportunity to discuss aspects of the author’s work, particularly his latest publication, Grimspound and Inhabiting Art (Carcanet, 2018). Grimspound is comprised of two complementary halves: a poetic meditation on the Bronze Age site of Grimspound on Dartmoor and a series of short essays on different cultural habitats. This event is of particular interest to English Literature students, providing an opportunity to meet the author in person and discuss a very recent publication of his.

British Poet Rod Mengham

This first in a series of book clubs taking place during the the Campus Book Festival is being being organised with the support of the English Department of the University of Malta. On Friday afternoon, the Open Mic session organised by Inizjamed will be featuring Mengham.

A treat to this year’s Campus Book Festival is an exhibition of books and their related sketches and illustrations. This will street throughout the three days of the Festival. Local artists Jon Grech, Marisa Attard, Moira Scicluna Zahra, Steve Bonello, Julinu, Raymond Dominic Grech, Steven Scicluna and Marco Scerri will exhibit the original sketch that found its way to become a book cover.

Each of the artists’ initial sketch or illustration as well as the published book will be on display. The public will be able to visit the exhibition on all three days of Festival.

The publishers and distributors participating in the festival are BDL, EDE BOOKS, FARAXA BOOKS, HORIZONS and Miranda Publishers. They will be selling their books at their stand and organising a number of book launch events. Representatives of Inizjamed and Għaqda tal-Malti – Università will be also present at the Festival.

The festival will wrap up on Friday night to the tunes of sixties and seventies inspired blues and rock’n’roll by live act The Busker.
The Campus Book Festival 2019, organised by the NBC in collaboration with Għaqda tal-Malti - Università, will run at the University of Malta’s quadrangle in Msida from 9am to 4pm on 27 and 28 March, and from 9am till late on 29 March. For updates, further details and the full programme of events, visit the NBC Facebook page and the Festival’s page on the NBC’s official site: ktieb.org.mt