The annual Malta Book Festival will begin tomorrow and run until Sunday at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

The festival was launched this morning by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

Weekday mornings are reserved for young readers and schoolchildren, for whom special activities have been prepared, including drama and adventure activities. There will be other child-oriented activities in the evenings.

The festival will feature a good number of conferences, book launches and presentations, meetings with the authors, and an exhibition on book-binding. As is now customary, a number of international authors will make an appearance, and participate in conferences and in events dedicated to their lives and work.

This year’s participants include virtually all local publishers, major bookshops and book distributors, public entities, and NGOs.

Malta Libraries have taken a very active role, working with both the National Book Council and the National Literacy Agency to set up activities meant to encourage the young to read more.

Foreign languages are also represented, with the  participation of the Italian Cultural Centre, the Spanish Embassy, and the French Embassy, whose stand will be host to Librairie ‘La Boucherie’ Paris and Biblionef, an NGO that distributes books in over 66 countries.

The winner of last year’s ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, poetess Maria Grech Ganado, will have an event dedicated to her life and work. This is an opportunity for members of the public to meet the poetess in person and listen to her poetry being recited by professional readers.

There will be a shuttle service running from next to the Independence monument in Floriana to the Mediterranean Conference centre all day during the weekend.