France-based poet NADIA MIFSUD tells Stephanie Fsadni that the local poetry scene is thriving, yet getting poems published has become ‘next to impossible’. She gives tips on how poetry can become more popular among the community by being taught in a more creative way and be disseminated more widely.
Author Nadia Mifsud feels the poetry scene in Malta is thriving with more and more people trying their hand at poetry, and doing “an excellent job at it”.
“Maybe I’m wrong or maybe I’m just not being objective but my impression is that poetry is doing even better than novel writing, and that it is producing some of our finest literary voices, most of them women,” Mifsud says.
She refers to Claudia Gauci, Simone Inguanez and Simone Galea who write in Maltese and Abigail Zammit who writes in English. She also believes up-and-coming names like Leanne Ellul, Dorianne Bonello and Beverly Agius will deliver “big surprises” in the near future.
She is, however, concerned about the fact that most poems do not get published.
“Ask any of our poets how easy or difficult it is for them to get their work published, and most of them would simply shrug their shoulders or laugh off the question – the truth is, finding a publisher has become next to impossible.”
Publishers see poetry books as a risky investment as poetry is still considered “a difficult if not elitist genre”.
“Few bookshops actually shelve poetry collections. The reason is that poetry sells slowly. To be fair, this is not the case only in Malta, but practically everywhere else,” the poet says. “In an ideal world, of course, I would love to see books – not just poetry books mind you – in every household stacked from floor to ceiling!”
Through determination and tireless effort, Mifsud has managed to publish two poetry collections: one called Żugraga (2009) (spinning top) and Kantuniera ’l Bogħod (2016) (a corner away). Her poems have been translated into English, French, Spanish, Slovenian and Turkish.
“In Żugraga, I was mostly writing short, direct texts, and I was also experimenting with typography, although none of my poems would actually qualify as calligrams. Back then, I was already into open-form poetry – maybe that’s because I like to break rules.
“Over the years, my poems have grown longer and, structurally speaking, more complex. Although I do not adhere to any received form or measure, composition [choice of words, sounds, rhythm, layout] remains one of my central concerns – striking just the right balance so that each piece becomes a pleasurable sonic experience.”
Mifsud, who mentions Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Apollinaire as three of her favourite all-time poets, tackles universal themes like love and death and is particularly interested in womanhood issues such as mother-daughter relationships and the changes a woman’s body goes through.
Her living away from her home country has also had an impact on her writing.
“I like to explore issues that are more directly linked to my personal life such as the notion of distance and the feeling of estrangement and homesickness that results from the fact of living abroad.”
The popularity of poetry may be influenced by the way it is taught at schools. While Mifsud cannot comment on the way poems are currently tackled in local schools, the mother of two knows that children in French schools still have to learn poems by heart. This might make poetry look dull and boring.
“Frankly, I am not a big fan of rote learning when it comes to poetry,” she says. “It might enhance your memory but it certainly does not help you to appreciate [or understand] a text any better.
“I think the best way to attract kids’ attention is by choosing poems that they can easily relate to. Young learners enjoy poems that are funny. They also enjoy performing poems in costume and with props. Some teachers combine poetry with art, asking pupils to turn poems into illustrations and then setting up an exhibition.
In the case of older students, she believes that “discussion is crucial”, rather than having the teacher dishing out biographical information about the author and the technical aspects of the text.
“This could be done through questions that eventually lead students to ‘undo’ a poem as if it were a jigsaw puzzle: how do you feel when you read this poem? What emotions did the author want to transmit? Do you think he/she has managed to do so? If yes, how? Can you relate to it? Why/why not? etc.”
She knows of teachers who use song lyrics to introduce poetry to their teenage students because they can relate to lyrics more easily and discuss them more willingly.
“I can see their point – I think it is possible to appreciate a poem in much the same way as one appreciates a piece of music, that is without necessarily being a connoisseur!
“I would also argue that reading poetry with students goes hand in hand with creating poetry with them – acrostics and shape poems usually go down well with young children. Inviting poets to visit schools always adds that extra bit of magic too, I guess!”
Asked how she thinks poetry can be disseminated more widely in the local context, she mentions workshops such as those being organised by the Għaqda tal-Malti and authors like Clare Azzopardi and Rita Saliba; poetry readings all year round, especially in places where one would not expect to find poetry, such as bars or pubs; more literary events; and more projects like the Poetry in Potato Bags – a collaborative initiative between the Valletta 2018 Foundation, Inizjamed and Potatoes Go Wild, a Leeuwarden-based NGO.
“I would love to see poem vending machines in public spaces – a similar initiative but with short story vending machines was started last year in Grenoble, France – or a project similar to John Giorno’s dial-a-poem take root in Malta,” she says.
Unlike some staunchly conservative peers, Mifsud believes that social media and digital media are a strong tool that can help bridge the gap between the writer and the reader, “allowing for direct feedback from a broader audience and a certain demystification of the author”.
She adds: “It has certainly affected marketing strategies: dissemination is faster, cheaper and probably more effective – so, in a way, one could argue that social media has made literature more accessible.”
Mifsud, who is involved in various programmes that aim to encourage reading among children, however insists that the love of reading should be instilled at a very young age.
“It is never too early to develop in infants a love for words and books, and never too late to stop reading aloud to/with children.
“Bedtime storytelling can do miracles. Not only does it prepare kids for sleep, it helps foster parent-child bonds and besides boosting your child’s brain development, it gives out the message that ‘hey, reading is fun’.
“Unfortunately, for too many kids, their first experience of books is in the classroom. Let infants and toddlers handle books, flip through them, pore over the illustrations, carry them with them wherever they wish. When you want to reward your children, do it with books – it is certainly one of the most enriching gifts you can ever give them.”
More on Nadia Mifsud
Nadia Mifsud is a writer and a literary translator. Besides poetry, her short stories have been published in several anthologies. She has translated some of the strongest voices in Maltese contemporary literature into French, including Immanuel Mifsud’s EU literature prize novel, Fl-Isem tal-Missier (u tal-Iben), which will be published by Gallimard under the title Je t’ai vu pleurer next week.
She is currently working on her first novel and a collection of short stories.
Next month, she will be taking part in the Crowd Omnibus project which is a literary tour from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean Sea, involving more than 100 writers from 37 countries. She will be reading in four different German cities and travelling by bus with seven other authors from one venue to another.