Malta hosts Commonwealth literature conference

More than 200 literary experts and literature lovers from all over the world met yesterday in Malta for the opening of a conference of the European Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (EACLALS).

The conference - Sharing Places: Searching For Common Ground In A World Of Continuing Exclusion - runs until Friday. It is discussing the Commonwealth And Post Colonial Writing. Nine acclaimed writers from around the globe will address the conference.

The conference coincides with the announcement of the overall winner of the 19th Commonwealth Writers' Prize, which is expected to be made known on Thursday.

Chaired by English language professor Daniel Massa, the pan-Commonwealth panel of literary critics has already announced the regional winners of the prize: Boy by Lindsey Collen (Africa); Runaway by Alice Munro (Canada); Small Island by Andrea Levy (Eurasia) and The White Earth by Andrew McGahan (South East Asia).

Four finalists - The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, Home by Larissa Behrendt and Natasha by David Bezmozgis - are competing for the First Best Book award, a competition for newcomers in the field of narrative fiction.

Prof. Massa said there were close to 300 entries for the prestigious prize, which was established by the Commonwealth Foundation in 1987 to encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that good books are read beyond their country of origin. He said the panel was delighted by the impressive skills shown by both new and established writers.

The conference is being held in Malta for the second time since 1978. EACLALS chairman Geoffrey Davis said as far as he could remember this was the first time that the triennial conference had returned to a country where it had already been held. Malta, he said, offered the ideal location, since it was both a "respected member of the Commonwealth" and an EU member.

Mr Davis said EACLALS exists to promote literature and research in Commonwealth and post-colonial countries.

The organiser of the conference, Stella Borg-Barthet, a lecturer in the University of Malta's Department of English, was praised for her "Herculian" task by the department's head Peter Vassallo.

Prof. Vassallo put a literary tinge into the organisation of the conference, with references to Greek mythology, making comments which had the participants in fits of laughter.