Burmese novelist at Fort St Elmo this evening

The 12th edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival opens today. Twelve writers from nine countries are reading at the festival, which also features Maltese and foreign poetry films, live music by jazz alternative Maltese musicians, a book stall, a book-binding stand by Kotba Calleja, drinks, and a selection of food provided by Migrant Women Association Malta. The writers reading this evening are the Maltese poet based in London, John Aquilina, whose debut book of poetry won the National Book Prize; Tunisian poet and performer Lilia Ben Romdhane who writes in the Tunisian dialect; poet Gjoko Zdraveski from the Republic of Macedonia; and Burmese prose writer and political activist Ma Thida, who will be interviewed by Clare Azzopardi. Her most recent book, the prison memoir Sanchaung, Insein, Harvard was published in English worldwide with the title, Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein in 2016 (Silkworm, Thailand). This first evening features the premiere of one of two Maltese poetry films commissioned by the Valletta 2018 Foundation and Inizjamed and introduced by film director and lecturer Kenneth Scicluna. The film of Maria Grech Ganado’s poem Relazzjoni...