NBC at the London Book Fair 2016

The National Book Council has just returned from The London Book Fair 2016 where, for the second time running, it set up a prominently located stand with a wide range of Melitensia including National Book Prize winners’ books alongside the latest prose publications and quality reference books by Maltese publishing houses. For 2016, the NBC collaborated with Klabb Kotba Maltin and editor Terence Portelli on 2 anthologies of translated National Book Prize Winners in Prose and Poetry – two separate publications entitled ‘Beyond a Satin Sea’ and ‘Under a Tangerine Sky’ which were disseminated to LBF visitors and interested publishers free of charge. The stand also hosted representatives from Gutenberg Press Ltd and was available to all Maltese publishers and related entities to use as a common meeting space.

Together with Chris Gruppetta from Merlin Publishers and Joseph Mizzi from Midsea Books, the NBC also presented a seminar on the Maltese Book Market. Following a presentation by the publishers and Executive Chairman, Mark Camilleri, the speakers opened the floor to questions about Malta and its flourishing literary field by those present in the audience.

The LBF Poetry Pavillion also hosted three fully stocked shelves of Maltese Poetry books available for all to browse through and in a separate event, Keith Borg, Antonella Axisa and Antoine Cassar read a selection of poetry in Maltese and English in the newly set up Globe Theatre stage within the LBF exhibition Hall.

The same stage hosted ‘Shakesperience’ – a selection of Shakesperean performances in different languages. Actress Antonella Axisa gave a rendition of Lady Macbeth translated into Maltese by Alfred Palma and directed by Immanuel Mifsud.

On the last day of the fair, it was officially announced that Clare Azzopardi had been listed as one of the 10 New Voices from Europe – part of the Literary Europe Live project led by Literature Across Frontiers and co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the EU – in the Literary Translation Centre at LBF2016.