Libya-born author Hisham Matar established himself internationally with his prize-winning novel In the Country of Men.

The 10th edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival, organised by Inizjamed, will be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, at Fort St Elmo, in Valletta. Eleven writers from eight countries are reading at the festival, which also features Maltese and foreign poetry films and three local jazz and alternative music bands. Entrance to all events, which starts at 8pm, is free.

The programme

The writers reading on Thursday are poet Efe Duyan (Turkey), poet and short story writer Nadia Mifsud (Malta/France), the British-born short story writer and novelist James Vella, and prize-winning poet and political scientist Tamim Barghouti (Palestine/Egypt), who will be interviewed by Walid Nabhan.

Barghouti’s father is the Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti and his mother is the Egyptian novelist and scholar, Radwa Ashour.

The band invited to play on this first night is Brodu, and Caldon Mercieca will present a poetry film from Reel Festivals.

On Friday, poet Moëz Majed (Tunisia), leading Maltese novelist Trevor Zahra, poet Jana Putrle Srdic (Slovenia) and novelist Hisham Matar (Libya/UK), who established himself internationally with his prize-winning novel In the Country of Men, will be reading.

Matar, who will be interviewed by Albert Gatt, is a contributor to various periodicals, including The Guardian and The New Yorker, in which, in 2013, he published part of his third novel, The Return, out next year. This work takes as its starting point the author’s visit to Libya in 2012, the first time he returned to his home country in 33 years. This second night features jazz music by Nadine Axisa and her band and another poetry film from Reel Festivals.

Saturday will see readings by novelist John Bonello, poet and academic Norbert Bugeja (Malta), and by novelist and academic Marina Warner (UK), who will be interviewed by Gloria Lauri-Lucente, deputy dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta. Warner was awarded the Holberg Prize in the Humanities in 2015 and was chair of the judges of the Man Booker International Prize 2015. The daughter of an Italian mother and English bookseller, she was brought up in Egypt, Belgium and England, and is writing a memoir-cum-novel set in Cairo in the 1950s.

Eleven writers from eight countries are reading at the festival, which also features Maltese and foreign poetry films and three local jazz and alternative music bands

On Saturday, live jazz music will be provided by Oliver Degabriele featuring Joe Debono and Joseph Camilleri. On Saturday, in collaboration with Valletta 2018 Foundation, Inizjamed will present a poetry film based on a poem by Mario Azzopardi, Ried Ikun Jaf, directed by Edward Said and produced by Emma Mattei.

Some of the literature read during the festival might require an adult audience.

The writers will be in Malta throughout this week to take part in the Malta LAF Literary Translation Workshop. They will be translating each other’s works, and reading some of these translations during the festival.

The festival and literary translation workshop form part of the Literature Across Frontiers initiative.

The 2015 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival and the Malta LAF translation workshop are being held with the support of the Malta Arts Fund, Heritage Malta, Arts Council Malta, Valletta 2018, Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, The Fortress Builders, Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, Malta Tourism Authority, Centre for Slovenian Literature, Slovenian Book Agency and Reel Festivals. The MMLF is the recipient of the EFFE Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe label.

For more information, visit the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival on Facebook or visit http://inizjamedmalta.wordpress.com .

Talk by Tunisian poet Moëz Majed

As part of the run-up to the festival, award-winning Tunisian poet Moëz Majed will today give a talk in English about the big challenges his country is facing after the freedom and dignity brought about by the revolution of 2010.

This talk will be chaired by Norbert Bugeja from the Mediterranean Institute. The event, being held at the University of Malta at 7pm, is open to everyone and entrance is free.