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Maltese literature took the front seat for the first time at this year’s Itef Literatue Festival in Turkey, which brought together literature lovers from over 20 countries. It was represented by author Charles Casha and Joyce Grech, executive director of the National Book Council.

The Istanbul Tanpinar Literature Festival is a meeting point that brings together some of the top names in the book industry from across several continents.

Named after the famous writer Ahmed Hamdi Tanpinar, the fourth edition of the festival was recently held in four cities across the country: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Hatay.

The Maltese delegation had the opportunity to meet other authors from many European countries and to hold discussions about various aspects of publishing, including translation, pitching and ­writing.

During his stay in Turkey, Casha was invited to talk about his experiences as an author, offering advice about embarking on this career to students from Istek Bilge Kagan private school.

Casha was also interviewed for a children’s TV programme during which journalists Hande Kurt from the Voice Of Tourism and Ozkan Altintas from Turkiyeturizm.com asked him questions about his career, his books and Malta.

Grech was also interviewed about publishing in Malta and the general situation about books and reading here.

She also took part in discussions organised by the professional group of the festival, during which many issues currently challenging the publishing industry, such as translation difficulties, were discussed.

This visit was made possible courtesy of Orange Travel Group and Air Malta and was supported by the Consul General of Malta in Istanbul, Reuben Gauci.

www.itef.tr