Spotlight on the Campus Book Festival: The End

Yesterday evening the Book Festival on Campus came to an end with an event in honour of author Caroline Smailes, the special guest of the Festival. Smailes led a number of workshops on different aspects of literary writing and the art of story-telling during the three days of the Festival. She was interviewed by John Bonello about her life and her work, with a focus on the importance of her Maltese lineage. The author read excerpts of her work and answered questions from the audience.

Among yesterday’s events, there was a talk by Dr. Michael Spagnol on linguistic variation in Maltese, which attracted quite a large number of university students, and a meeting with the author Jean Paul Borg, who talked with Elena Cardona about his latest publication – a collection of short stories entitled ‘Mhux Nies’ (Klabb Kotba Maltin).

A session of poetry readings, both in Maltese and English, set up by Faraxa, gave the audience the opportunity to hear some of the original voices in contemporary local poetry: Marlene Saliba, Therese Pace, Dion P.P. Pizzuto and Linda Henry. It can be said to be characteristic of the Festival that it should feature evening poetry sessions. This year the Festival also featured the book launch of a collection of poems by Prof. Kenneth Wain, ‘Who looks at the sun anymore’ (Horizons).

Different aspects of the book were addressed by the Festival such as the craft of book-binding and the restoration of books and archives. On both Wednesday and Thursday Glen Calleja led workshops on handmade books, while on Thursday HoASA (History of Art and Fine Arts Students’ Association) set up a talk on the preservation and restoration of books.

The National Book Council, together with Għaqda tal-Malti – Universita’ thank all the publishers and organizations that took part in the Festival, as well as the authors, speakers and readers who participated in the events. We also thank the members of the public who supported the Festival by attending and taking part in the events that were prepared for them.