I was quite intrigued by Minister Zammit Dimech's article (The Sunday Times, May 8) in which he gave a short account of a symposium held the previous week in Paris discussing the role of culture in Europe's further growth.

People like myself, who for the past few years have been addressing similar conferences in other European cities organised by cultural bodies and European governments, could deem Dr Zammit Dimech's article as a ray of hope for the local literary field.

Unlike Malta, other European countries have vast programmes, funded by the state, the private sector and other relevant associations, which aim at promoting their language and their literature in other EU countries.

For instance, the eight ex-Communist states which together with Malta joined the EU last year, have embarked on huge translation projects and they have also set up the necessary networks and infrastructure to carry out these projects. It is imperative to point out that these countries, some of which were not even independent states up till a few years ago, launched these projects as part of their preparation to join the Union.

As far as Malta goes, however, I know of no project or plan on the government's part to study how the promotion of local literature is to be actuated, assuming the government has any plans.

This is not to say that Maltese literature is not being translated and published abroad. Writers like Maria Grech Ganado, Adrian Grima, Claire Azzopardi, myself and maybe others have had more than one opportunity to have their work translated into various languages and issued in prestigious collections. But, unlike their European counterparts, local authors have no backing whatsoever from the state and they have to rely on the goodwill of fellow writers and friends to have their work translated, promoted and published abroad.

I had personally presented the previous Minister of Culture a detailed dossier of what the so-called small EU member states, like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been doing in their quest to have their literatures spread among other European countries. It seems to me, however, that locally there is still a grievous lack of vision of how to tackle things related to literature and translation.  

Fellow writers have no idea, for example, what the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (MCCA) is doing in this respect. While other EU member states have set up entities with the specific aim of devising literary and cultural exchanges for writers and artists from different EU countries, the MCCA within the Ministry of Tourism and Culture has so far done very little in this respect.

In his article the minister praised the resolutions following the Paris meeting as a good prospect for Maltese literature to reach a larger - European - audience, as they seem to "represent an incredible opportunity for Malta's own literary works that will automatically transcend frontiers". Unfortunately Dr Zammit Dimech stopped short of disclosing what his ministry's plans are to give Maltese writers this golden opportunity.

At this point one can only hope that the ministry, the MCCA, or some other body will not take too long to come up with a concrete strategy which will eventually widen the road for Maltese literature to cross the borders.

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