One of the most prominent people who worked hard to promote reading in Maltese during the second half of the 20th century was undoubtedly Paul Mizzi of Mdina, a lover of Maltese literature who hails from Victoria. It was he who back in 1970 against all odds founded the Klabb Kotba Maltin which today comprises also the Midsea Publications.

Since then, hundreds of books have been published in Maltese through this initiative; Joseph Aquilina’s six-volume dictionary (Maltese-Engish/English-Maltese) will most probably remain the most renowned publication of them all.

Now that the International Day of the Book is fast approaching, I would like to humbly suggest to the Akkademja tal-Malti, which is the highest institution that safeguards the Maltese language, to consider naming Pawlu Mizzi as Missier il-Ktieb Malti – the father of the Maltese book.

I believe this is a title that is appropriate only for Mizzi who dedicated the greatest part of his life to promoting our national language and did his utmost to publish books on a plethora of subjects in the language that every Maltese citizen can easily understand and identify with.