With the National Book Festival now just three months away, the recently appointed manager for the National Book Council, John Grech, gives Iggy Fenech an exclusive look at the festival artwork, created by Julian Mallia (aka Julinu), and talks about the history of Malta’s favourite book festival and what they have planned to make this year’s event even more special.
Taking place every November, the National Book Festival has become one of the most highly anticipated events on the social calendar for many Maltese. Indeed, for me, it almost feels like a tradition to go there and rummage through the thousands of books on display – and I’ve been doing it for over 20 years.
There is something quite comforting about it, too. Maybe it’s the smell of all those books placed next to each other; or maybe it’s the fact that I have so many memories from going there with my parents, with friends and, recently, even as part of my work. Either way, considering how many people attend the festival each year, I think it’s quite safe to say that I am not the only person who feels this affinity to the event.
This year, the National Book Festival will once again take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, between November 9 and 13. There will be new publications by Maltese and foreign authors, great promotions on various books and numerous meets and greets.
Yet the book festival is more than simply a marketplace where people can get their hands on the latest releases from Maltese publishers or bag a great deal on a monumental coffee table book. As I discovered while speaking to John Grech, the recently-appointed manager of the National Book Council, the festival comes with a history and aims to impact the future.
“The National Book Council thinks of the festival as a point of encounter and cultural exchange,” Mr Grech tells me at the beginning of our discussion. “This is a far cry from the book fairs of the past where the main emphasis was on selling books; after all, this is a festival not a fair. Moreover, we see its role as that of a cultural agent, deeply committed to a sense of community.”
True to its roots, which go back all the way to the late 1970s, the National Book Festival is once again a catalyst for dialogue and ideas
True to its roots, which go back all the way to the late 1970s, the National Book Festival is once again a catalyst for dialogue and ideas. It takes the world around it into consideration and it adapts itself to it, rather than expecting the opposite to happen. But, as Mr Grech continues to explain, while the essence of the festival is as it was 37 years ago, a lot has changed, too.
“The first book fair took place in 1979, with the idea that it would serve as a bridge between Arab and European publishers, allowing authors and publishers to meet and possibly work on projects together,” he says.
Authors Trevor Zahra, Clare Azzopardi and Loranne Vella.“The idea was good and, in the political climate of the time, made much sense. But, as the political situation changed, the festival lost its international dimension, eventually degrading into a bazaar event.”
It was at this point that the National Book Council realised that the festival had to be reinvented to keep up with the times and to once again make it a point of reference for publishers and authors to be able to meet and collaborate.
“Even so, you could say that we have given a nod to the old version of the festival by appropriating some of its aspects and adapting them to our times. We have, for instance, preserved the commercial element, adapting it to fit a cultural framework, and this formula seems to be working… People visit the festival mainly to enjoy themselves, as well as to participate in discussions and workshops, discover new authors and even meet some of them in person.”
In fact, on top of having practically every single Maltese publisher represented at the event, this year the National Book Council is also planning on organising a series of talks and events that create discussions and provoke audience’s thoughts. Among these will be a conference titled ‘Literature and Totalitarianism’, featuring three foreign authors as special guests – Andrew Farrugia and Craig Macdonald Alek Popov, the Bulgarian satirical novelist and author of Mission London and The Black Box, the British academic and writer Professor Patrick McGuinness, who wrote The Last Hundred Days and the Egyptian novelist Basma Abdel Aziz, whose Kafkaesque book, The Queue, has received copious amounts of acclaim.
“While we in the West seem to enjoy the benefits of the so-called ‘free world’, we tend to forget that this is only a very small part of the world and that our freedom is itself quite precarious,” Mr Crech explains. “I really hope audiences will be disturbed by what they hear during the conference. In fact, for me, the conference will be successful in direct proportion to how uneasy the audiences will feel after it.”
There will be lighter moments at the festival, too, however. Among the other events there will be an evening dedicated to last year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Maria Grech Ganado, where the public will be able to meet the author, listen to her poetry recited by professional readers and indulge in a discussion with her about her own poetry.
“As I said above, the National Book Council assigns itself the role of a cultural agent in society. It seeks to help local communities become more erudite, more inquisitive and, therefore, less easily satisfied with their own knowledge. We believe that children should be catered for, as well,”Mr Grech adds.
To inspire children to read and think, the National Book Council have reserved weekday mornings for students. Events will range from performances based on children’s books to costume competitions in a bid to unleash their inner creativity and get them to think outside the box.
All in all, it is promising to be another exciting year for the National Book Festival; and not just for bibliophiles, either… It is continuing in its legacy to bring people and nations together through the power of the written word and it’s always a joy to be part of that legacy.