Djamantini (small diamonds) is a collection of prose, poetry and song of its first kind in Malta: it marks a collaborative and thorough effort between students, teachers, established authors and songwriters, and all the proceeds from its sale will go towards less fortunate children.
“The book forms part of a much larger project,” explains Sharon Micallef Cann, the head of the Maltese Department at St Clare College, Pembroke.
“It all started when we won the the first Premju Frans Sammut, schools category, which consisted of a monetary award. We wanted to do something useful with this money, from which all local students and the community at large would benefit.
“That’s how we started the Mit-tfal għat-tfal b’qawsallet il-kliem project, in which all the secondary school students at Pembroke and their Maltese language teachers were tied to various authors and songwriters. For a whole scholastic year, the students were mentored to develop their creative writing skills.”
Their writings were then collected, selected and edited by Trevor Zahra, Rita Saliba, Victor Fenech and Micallef Cann. And Djamantini was thus born.
The book also includes 23 original writings that the established authors participating in the project wrote specifically for this anthology. These include Saliba, Fenech and Zahra, and Oliver Friggieri, Joe Friggieri, Lina Brockdorff, Carmel G. Cauchi, Rita Grech, Ġorġ Borg, John Bonello, Mark Camilleri, Simone Inguanez, Adrian Grima and Michael Spagnol.
There is also a number of contributions from songwriters Philip Vella, Rita Pace and Mike Spiteri, għannejja Ġużeppi Spagnol and Ġustu Zammit, and journalist Keith Demicoli.
The anthology is made up of songs, short stories with positive messages aboutforgiveness, love, immigration and family values, poems and għanjiet.
The 300-page book also features as many illustrations by Caroline Said Lawrence, Arwa Buchieri, Sue Flask and Sean Briffa. Said Lawrence also contributed 23 illustrations representing the Maltese language.
Djamantini was launched last November. This specific title was chosen because, according to Micallef Cann, it incorporates the four main components of the project.
“Just as a diamond has many facets, so does this book: the Maltese language – a beautiful language that each generation should be proud of and promote in a constructive and responsible way; the rich Maltese literature; the various contributions by 220 authors, young and not so young, established and not; and, last but not least, the perseverance of many people and entities that gave their personal contribution – talent, time and money among others – so that this project spread over a year and its publication were made possible.”
She adds that the title is also representative of children and youths worldwide.
“Just as a diamond is considered the ultimate precious gem for its strength and beauty and the qualities synonymous with it, such as invincibility, victory, purity, fidelity, faith and courage, among many others, so are children and youths to us.”
The students were very enthusiastic about the project and, according to Micallef Cann, they will cherish this experience for life.
“This book is truly a feast of talent, dreams, ideas and art,” she says.
“Besides connecting students with their teachers and these pillars of the Maltese language, they experienced the beauty of our mother tongue through this project.”
The proceeds from the sale of Djamantini is going towards investment in books and other resources in Maltese for the Rainbow Ward at Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre.
Currently, all the writings are being recorded for podcasts aimed at children with vision impairment.
The last few copies of Djamantini are available at all leading bookshops. For more information, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi_OW3E9vwo and the Djamantini Facebook page.
• The book was financed by the National Literacy Agency of the Ministry for Employment and Education (MEDE), HSBC’s Catch the Drop campaign, Book Distributors Limited (BDL), Marygold Foundation and Insomnia.