
Moderator: Prof. Clare Vassallo //
The special guest of the 2020 Malta Book Festival and one of the most celebrated authors of our time, Sir Salman Rushdie will be joining another towering figure of Maltese literature, Dr Alfred Sant, for a conversation shedding light on the achievements, influences and current preoccupations of the two great writers and their respective cultural milieu. The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Clare E Vassallo, Associate Professor of Semiotics and Translation Studies at the University of Malta.
A brilliant provocateur, Sir Salman Rushdie has penned a handful of classic novels, influenced a generation of writers, and received a Queenโs Knighthood for his โservices to literature.โ He stands as both a pop culture icon and one of the most thought-provoking proponents for free speech today.
Sir Salman Rushdieโs novels, greetedย always with anticipation and acclaim, includeย The Satanic Verses,ย The Moorโs Last Sigh,ย and his masterwork of magic realism,ย Midnightโs Children, for which he won the prestigious Booker Prize, and later, the Best of the Booker.ย The reception for his most recent work,ย Quichotte, has proven no different: included inย TIMEโsย list of 100 Must-Read Books of 2019, and named one ofย The Financial Timesโย Best Books of 2019โwho also calledย the novel โbrilliant…a perfect fit for a moment of transcontinental derangementโ. Quichotteย was also a shortlisted finalist for the 2019 Booker Prize.
In a long and distinguished literary career, Dr Alfred Sant authored a notable list of published works ranging from novels, short stories and plays, as well as political and autobiographical writings. On five different occasions and in different categories heโs been the recipient of the National Book Prize, and most recently the National Book Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Between 1996 and 1998 he served as Prime Minister of Malta and was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
His first novel,ย L-Ewwel Weraq tal-Bajtarย (1968), published when he was only 19 is a watershed moment in the development of the Maltese literature, announcing the advent of the contemporary novel. Other landmark novels include the early-seventies set Silฤก fuq Kemmuna (1982) andย La Bidu, La Tmiem โ 1599ย (2001), a historical epic praised for its capacity toย meld โpolitical, economic, social and cultural viewpointsโฆwhile never failing to deal with humanityโs existential conundrumโ (Mario Azzopardi, Times of Malta). Sant is also a renowned playwright, his most recent is the satirical Balzunetta Towers (2017) which took on Maltaโ construction obsessed mind-set and the power of money over the political classย – it was performed as part of the Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture programme.
This is a live event.