Campus Book Festival 2019

The Campus Book Festival, organised by the National Book Council in collaboration with Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, is now in its sixth edition, and from its inception it has aimed at providing a space for Maltese publishers and authors to promote their work with a mature audience, such as university students. Students as well as the general public are invited to engage in the Festival activities, that all revolve around books: discussions, book presentations and launches, interviews, animated readings, tours, quizzes, an exhibition – there are plenty of events on offer across the three days. British poet, literary critic and translator Rod Mengham was invited as the Festival’s foreign guest. Dr Mengham’s main interests are 19th and 20th century English literature, especially Dickens; the 1930s and the 1940s and contemporary fiction and poetry. He will be at the Festival across the three days (27–29 March) and will take part in three main activities: a session about translating poetry with Head of the Translation Department at the University of Malta Prof. Clare Vassallo and translator Kevin Saliba; a book-club activity with English-Language students centred around his latest book Grimspound and Inhabiting Art (Carcanet); and a much awaited interview with Maltese poet Antoine Cassar. A special treat to this year’s Campus Book Festival is an exhibition of books and their related sketches and illustrations. This will street throughout the three days of the Festival. Local artists Jon Grech, Marisa Attard, Moira Scicluna Zahra, Steve Bonello, Julinu, Raymond Dominic Grech, Steven Scicluna and Marco Scerri will exhibit the original sketch that found its way to become a book cover. Each of the artists’ initial sketch or illustration as well as the published book will be on display. Visit the exhibition on all three days of Festival. As usual, the FKK will wrap up with a live gig, this time by Maltese band The Busker, featuring original music inspired by the sixties and seventies. The planned activities shall include the participation of, among others, Prof. Dominic Fenech; Prof. Oliver Friggieri; Prof. Bernard Micallef and Dr Olvin Vella, in collaboration with the University Library; the National Council of the Maltese Language represented by Thomas Pace and Dr George Farrugia; the Department of Translation Studies represented by Prof. Clare E. Vassallo; the Notarial Archives represented by Chanelle Briffa; the Department of Sociology and the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences; the Department of Philosophy represented by Dr. Jean-Paul De Lucca; the Faculty of Education represented by Prof. Suzanne Gatt; the Faculty of Theology represented by Rev. Dr. Charlo Camilleri; Inizjamed; and other stakeholders in the publishing industry, among otthers. These are but a few of the events at this year’s Campus Book Festival. Be sure to tune in for more information following the NBC Facebook page (National Book Council Malta) and the Festival’s event page (Campus Book Festival (FKK) 2019). The Book Festival on Campus is free and open to students, academics and members of the public. You can download the programme in pdf format from here: http://ktieb.org.mt/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CAMPUS-PROGRAMME-web.pdf