The Malta Book Festival 2019, the most prominent and prestigious book celebration of the year, will take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, starting from Wednesday 6 November and going on till Sunday 10 November.

For yet another year the Malta Book Festival will be dedicating a lot of activities to children. These have been set up to adhere to a philosophy that provides age-appropriate learning activities for children revolving around books and reading, and all focus on how to make reading enjoyable and relatable to children, and still reap the benefits out of it.

The projected numbers of families attending the Festival show an increased popularity of the Festival with the younger audience – a direct result of the commitment that the National Book Council has taken to use the Malta Book Festival to promote a culture of reading and love of books among children and teenagers.

The Malta Book Festival is a platform for publishers and authors specialising in children’s books, which the Malta Book Festival will be increasingly promoting. Each visiting student attending the Festival during the morning of weekdays will be able to browse through books and buy them with 3 € voucher provided by the National Book Council.

Special performances will take place for them, this year at Republic Hall, where Antonella Axisa and her troupe of actors will be enacting the stories from last year’s Terramaxka Prize winning books, namely Mamà, allura din imħabba? by Moira Scicluna Zahra and Mark Scicluna and Jarmuk by Stephen Lughermo. The two performances will be catering for different age cohorts. Schools across Malta and Gozo are encouraged to book a slot for their students to visit the Malta Book Festival 2019 (closing date is 20 October). New to the Festival is a special performance organised by the National Book Council with Irish actor and writer Dave Rudden. Dave will do standup comedy coupled with educational material related to tips on how to get students to write. Children can expect inspirational stories, readings and a ton of sound effects. Here is a link to the circular with further info: https://ktieb.org.mt/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CIRKOLARI-MBF2019-SKEJJEL-11019.pdf.

Encouraging reading has not only to do with enhancing reading skills, but also with making children conscious of their skill and proud of themselves as readers. An activity that specifically targets this is the ‘Reading Champions’, which will celebrate Year 8 students who already are ardent readers, others who have improved their skill, and also students who have inspired others to read. This event is organised by the National Literacy Agency in collaboration with the NBC and the Department of Curriculum Management of the Ministry for Education and Employment.

Another event not to be missed is the show by DANUSAN, ‘Il-Kotba Jieħdu l-Ħajja’ (Books Come to Life). The shows will be based on this year’s Terramaxka winning books, announced on the opening night of the Festival. The 1 hour and 30 minute shows are excellent for families with children and DANUSAN will be showing the importance of reading in their own hilarious way. The shows will be held on Friday 8 at 7 pm, Saturday 9 at 8 pm, and Sunday 10 at 3 pm. For more information and to purchase your ticket, visit www.showshappening.com.

Various book launches for children, readings, storytelling and workshops will take place at various locations, including Merlin Publishers, Faraxa Publishing, Malta Libraries, German-Maltese Circle and more. The NBC urges parents/guardians and teachers to view or download the full programme of events of the 2019 Malta Book Festival for more information.

Families will also have the opportunity to visit the Malta Book Festival 2019 hassle free, as a free shuttle service will be available all day, every 30 minutes, to and from Bay A, Bus Terminus, Valletta, to MCC. This service is free of charge and for the first time this year it will be operating every day, from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10.

The biggest celebration of the book culture in the Maltese Islands, the Malta Book Festival has become the perfect location for children of all ages who want to have a unique meeting with books.

This year’s Festival will be held on 6–10 November. The programme of events will be delivered in printed form to all households in Malta and Gozo in the month of October

 

 


Share Article