Malta Book Festival - The BookShop: guest authors at the 2021 edition

The 2021 Malta Book Festival has procured its local talent by securing Trevor Zahra, Immanuel Mifsud, Loranne Vella and Walid Nabhan for this year’s edition.

The 2021 Malta Book Festival - Bookshop edition will be providing a unique platform for events that celebrate the authors contributing to Malta’s national literature.

Among the local guest authors at this year’s Malta Book Festival, the National Book Council will be giving centre stage to award-winning authors Trevor Żahra and Immanuel Mifsud, as well as Loranne Vella and Walid Nabhan.

The latter two will be participating in the book launch of new translations of their works. As in previous years, these events will be providing the public with an opportunity to meet renowned authors and discover their work.

Trevor Zahra 

The National Book Council will be paying tribute to the literary achievements of Trevor Żahra, the recipient of the 2020 National Book Prize Lifetime Achievement Award. In a long career of important contributions to local literature in which he published more than 130 books, Żahra’s name has for many become synonymous with children’s literature.

Over the years he has also written proficiently for adolescents and adults, particularly in the short-story format, making him Malta’s most decorated National Book Prize-winning author. 

Immanuel Mifsud 

Immanuel Mifsud will return to the Malta Book Festival for an exchange with the celebrated author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh. The conversation, taking place on Thursday 4 November at 7:30pm, will be moderated by Mark Vella and seeks to open up a space to discuss the global reach of Welsh’s books and a turning point for Maltese literature which reflected broader developments from the Anglo-American literary world. 

Loranne Vella and Walid Nabhan: Maltese literature in translation 

On Friday 5 November at 5:30 pm at the Malta Book Festival, Peter Owen Publishers are launching The Exodus of the Storks, the first English edition of Walid Nabhan’s L- Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji, translated by Albert Gatt. For the launch, Walid Nabhan will be joining Peter Owen Publishers Managing Director Nick Kent and Prof. Adrian Grima. 

For more information visit the Malta Book Festival 2021 - The BookShop edition Facebook page and the NBC website from where you can also register for events - check event descriptions for details.

The Malta Book Festival - The BookShop runs between 3-7 November at the following opening hours: on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9am-1pm and 5:30pm-9:30pm; on Saturday from 9:30am-10:30pm, and on Sunday from 8:30am-8pm.