Literary Arts Contest for the Malta Book Festival

The National Book Council would like to remind local artists that the call for submissions for the Literary Arts Contest, which is part of the programme of cultural events for the 2017 Malta Book Festival is due to close on 31st July. In order to participate, artists are asked to produce a work of art based on an original Maltese literary text of their choice, which can include novels, short stories, poetry and drama. The artworks can be executed in a variety of media – painting, print, digital art, sculpture or photography.

An appointed jury will evaluate the works to choose ten winning entries, all of which will form part of an exhibition to be hosted in the Perello Suite at the Mediterranean Conference Center for the duration of the Festival. Furthermore, the jury will select one work out of the ten as the winning entry. There is a prize of 1000 euros for the winner. All the paintings will be for sale during the exhibition and any proceedings from the sale will be given to the artists.

For the purposes of submission, artists are required to submit high resolution photographs or scans of their work, together with the application form, found here, in which they should include the name of the text that inspired the work along with a quotation taken from the text. The artworks, once selected, will be collected in the last few weeks leading to the Festival, which as announced last week, will take place early in November (8th – 12th).

The main aim of the contest is to encourage Maltese artists to start looking at local literature as a source of inspiration, with a view to encourage future collaborations and projects that combine talent from different sectors of the local scene. In addition, the contest should also serve to illustrate the potential of Maltese literature to members of the public who visit the Malta Book Festival.

All local artists are strongly urged not to miss out on this opportunity to exhibit their work in one of the most important dates in the cultural calendar of the country. Rules and criteria can be read here.