Festivals, Funds And Initiatives In 2025: Key Dates

On 25 January 2025, the National Book Council (NBC) held its Annual Consultation Meeting for authors and publishers, during which it also unveiled its 2025 dates for key events, activities and initiatives – the Malta Book Festival, the National Book Prize and the Malta Book Fund being chief among them.

However, the meeting also served as an opportunity to highlight some exciting developments on the part of the NBC, which will be sure to reverberate all across 2025, and beyond.

Notably, the Malta Book Fund has been increased by €20,000, which allowed to allocate higher prize money across some of its categories, hence more potential beneficiaries. The Publishing Grants for New Books Category will now have a pot of €55,000. Translation and Export of Books by Maltese Authors will go have €45,000, while Grants for Translations into Maltese will increase to €20,000 from the previous total of €15,000.

The threshold for individual projects in the above categories will remain the same as previous years.

During the meeting, it was also revealed that the Public Lending Rights scheme will experience an increase this year – going from a previous threshold of €60,000 to an increased pot of €80,000.

These increases highlight the NBC’s commitment to, as ever, to ensuring the propagation of a healthier and more sustainable literary industry.

The consultation meeting also allowed for the NBC to update stakeholders on developments in relation to the NBC’s five-year national strategy, devised in collaboration with internationally reputable consultancy firm KPMG and set to be unveiled for public consultation following an approvals process set to be completed in the coming months.

The five-year strategy covering the years 2025-2030 has been informed by widespread consultation with stakeholders in the local book industry, and will seek to serve as an important guiding tool for the NBC to ensure the cultivation of a vibrant, thriving and sustainable book industry in Malta and Gozo.

The release of the strategy paper will be accompanied by the launch of a fresh visual identity for the NBC, with both its brand image and website undergoing a revamp to better reflect the evolving nature of the NBC’s work.

This year, the annual Malta Book Festival will be held from 5 till 9 November at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre, Ta’ Qali. On the other hand, the National Book Prize ceremony will take place on 26 September, awarding both the Terramaxka Prize and National Book Prize.

Literary exports are a vital aspect for the Maltese book industry and the National Book Council continuously strives to liaise with and help local authors and publishers network with foreign publishers. Having successfully compileed the very first foreign rights catalogue last year, the NBC will now be distributing an updated edition to relevant international stakeholders.

The National Book Council’s calendar for 2025 promises to continue celebrating Maltese literature both locally and abroad. We look forward to writing this new chapter with our industry partners and stakeholders.

NATIONAL BOOK PRIZE 2025

Call open: 11 February

Call closes: 27 February

Ceremony: 26 September

More info here.

At a glance:

– 8 prizes for Adults, 6 Terramaxka Prizes for Children & Young Adults

– Competitive contest

– Independent adjudication

Prize for original works: €4,000

Prize for translated works (Terramaxka only): €2,000

Special prizes: €4,000

Prize for winning publishers: €1,000

MALTA BOOK FESTIVAL

Festival dates: 5–9 November

Application for exhibitors: 15 April–2 May

More info here.

NOVELS FOR YOUTH LITERARY CONTEST

Call opens: 22 January

Call closes: 3 September

Ceremony: 10 January 2025

More info here.

THE LONDON BOOK FAIR

The National Book Council will represent Maltese authors and publishers during the London Book Fair, which will be held between 11–13 March.

At a glance:

– the NBC will pitch Maltese books to international publishers and agents through a foreign rights catalogue;

– engage in meetings with old and new contacts and literary agents to broker new deals;

– hold a seminar and reading sessions to promote and advertise Maltese literature to prospect readers and publishers.

DOREEN MICALLEF POETRY CONTEST

Call opens: 13 May
Call closes: 14 July

More info here.

At a glance:

First prize: €1,000

Second prize: €500

Third prize: €200

– Independent adjudication

– Poems evaluated anonymously

– Competitive contest

– For poems in Maltese not exceeding 36 verses in length

MALTA BOOK FUND

Call opens: 18 March
Call closes: 20 May
Results announcement: 15 July

More info here.

At a glance:

Annual budget: €140,000
Grant budget: €500–€5,000

– For books at project stage (unpublished)

– To subsidise non-commercially viable publications

– To support translations from and into Maltese

– To support the republication of Maltese classics locally

– To support the translation of book excerpts intended to be pitched to local or international publishers

– Independent adjudication

PUBLIC LENDING RIGHTS (PLR) 

Applications Accepted: Year-round

At a Glance:

Annual Budget: €80,000
Maximum Yearly Payment: €5,000 per author

– Remuneration for authors, co-authors, illustrators, photographers, and editors based on lending statistics.

– Remuneration issued every 3 months

– Extended to University of Malta library books (ISBN numbers) – issued every year

– Allocated funds for every period are divided percentage-wise according to lending statistics

ISBN and ISMN

Applications accepted all year round.

Application form and further information here.

The National Book Council – What do we do?

– we organise national and international events, from large to smaller-scale ones: the Malta Book Festival, the University Campus Book Festival;

– we act as literary agents for authors and publishers at foreign book fairs;

– we organise literary contests;

– we administer public lending rights (PLR) payments and ISBN & ISMN;

– we coordinate, facilitate and subsidise local, and translations and export projects (Malta Book Fund);

– we administer audio-visual funds for books and literature-related productions.