John Cremona, a former chief justice and a poet, is celebrating his 100th birthday today. This is a remarkable feature in Malta’s literary history because he is the first Maltese poet to have reached such an august age.

The political history of the Maltese islands will tell us that he is an eminent figure that has left his mark on the major chronicled events of the 20th century. For John Cremona (or J. J. Cremona) is, for a large section of the population, better known for his distinguished legal profession that unfolds a long list of accomplishments at the national and international levels, including Chief Justice of Malta and vice-president of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

But there is another side to this personality, and that is poetry. Cremona has earned recognition as much for his legal achievement as for the accomplishment of his poetic career.

At an early age, when he was 15, he started writing poetry and, today, when he is in his 100th year, he is still composing poetry. Thus, if legal history reveals his greatness as a public figure, literary criticism must explain him as a sensitive human being and this has already being done, several times, by the late Peter Serracino Inglott.

Serracino Inglott, who had been analysing in some detail Cremona’s poetry since the 1960s, attributed the beginnings of modern poetry in Malta to Cremona. He called Cremona l-missier tal-poeżija moderna f’Malta (the father of modern poetry in Malta).

He is unique for his grand age and beautiful poetic mind.

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