Honoris Causa for late judge Philip Sciberras and cartoonist Joe Sacco

The University of Malta conferred two Honoris Causa degrees to the late poet and judge Philip Sciberras, and the renowned Maltese-American cartoonist, Joe Sacco.

Orations were delivered by Prof. Kevin Aquilina from the Faculty of Laws for the late Judge Sciberras, and Dr Gilbert Calleja from the Faculty of Arts for Mr Sacco.

Thanking the University of Malta for recognising Judge Sciberras’s contributions towards the administration of justice in the country, Prof. Aquilina emphasised hs long and fruitful career across a number of disciplines.

Lara Dimitrijevic is presented with the Honoris Causa for her late father, Philip Sciberras

Calleja commended the genius of Joe Sacco’s work, whose contributions and “funny” cartoons depicted the world through a point of view that separated Sacco from his counterparts. Calleja concluded by thanking Sacco for being the “funny-looking guy” he is, reiterating the impetus of his publications that often unearthed the strengths in being vulnerable, inept, and lost.

The ceremony took place at the Church of the University in Valletta, and attended by the President of Malta, George Vella.

Prior to the ceremony, the Academic Body together with Sacco and relatives of Judge Sciberras, proceeded in procession from the Valletta Campus in St Paul Street to the Church of the University.

Judge Philip Sciberras was born in Malta in 1945. Elected Laboure MP between 1979 and 1987, he was appointed to the judiciary in 2002 and dedicated his life to legal research. In 2016, he was appointed Officer of Order of Merit. Other than his legal career, Sciberras was one of the founders of the Moviment Qawmien Litterarju of the 1960s, and in his later life embarked on a monumental, 10-volume reference work, The Alphabet of the Civil Code. He passed away before the launch of the first volume of his latest series entitled L-Alfabett tal-Kodiċi ta’ Organizzazzjoni u Proċedura Ċivili.

Joe Sacco was born in Malta in 1960, a year before his family’s emigration to Melbourne, Australia, where he spent his childhood. In 1972, his family relocated to the United States, where Sacco later majored in journalism at the University of Oregon in 1978.

In 1986 he started working for Fantagraphics, one of the most distinguished American publishers of independent comics and cartoons. Over the following years, his critically acclaimed strips and graphic novels focusing mostly on war-torn countries and geopolitical issues won him the name of father of comics journalism. In 2012, he earned the PEN Literary Award in Graphic Literature for Outstanding Body of Work.