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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 MARCH 2020 5 depths of my soul by the Mys- tery of the Absolute (and may I add that it was this Mystery which made me soul aware) I did not have any dogma in mind. It was not dogma that made me taste the Mystery. Rather! When I was struck, I was touched in the very essence of my being, an essence which by far surpasses my mind, with all the capabilities that my in- telligence can make possible to it through my brains. I am speaking of an experience that dazzles and blinds me: an ex- perience that in itself and as I write, strips me of any dogma. I believe that it is an experience that must strike the reader not so much in his/her mind, as in that most intimate part of his/ her being: his/her soul. This is how I write: in a natural way; I do not know how to be dog- matic. I do not feel that I am a man of religion, as much as I feel that I am a man of hu- manity, of the human being, and if you will allow me, of the depths. A man who knows about that which is possessed by all: thirst. What do you hope that readers will take away from the mem- oir? I hope that they pick up a taste of that silence, which is the fruit and somehow also the expression of the Mystery. It is a silence which in the hermit- age I was led to live as a Pres- ence. How did it feel to win the Best Emergent Writer at the Nation- al Book Prize? To be honest I still have not fathomed the meaning of being 'Best Emergent Writer'. I hav- en't and am not so eager to do so. I find that writing is a hard enough commitment in itself, both on an emotional as well as on a spiritual level. Too hard that I should ever let a prize for a moment make me forget the responsibility that writing carries with it. When I write I do not have prizes in mind or the possibility of winning any; and when they are given me, I do not allow myself to focus on them. I cannot. Writing is a call; I say what I have to say and move on. To be honest I don't even care whether my name will be re- membered or not after I die. My journey is towards the light of eternity. This is such a lumi- nous light, that no amount of light bulbs that every now and then light up around me, carry any importance to me. What do you make of the local literary scene? What would you change about it? The literary scenario mirrors the people who produce it. To change the scenario, one would need to change the people. But I don't want to change anybody. Everyone comes with his/her baggage, his/her opinions, his/ her visions, his/her hurts, his/ her dreams and aspirations. Such is the literary space: a space which is not created by one person or one group of individuals. It is everybody's space, and as such, is tinged with both the defects and the excellence of everybody. Such is humanity. What can I change from it? What's next for you? Later on this year my second book of prose is due to be is- sued. It ties in with Tħabbat, Xtaqtek, but goes back in time, as in a prequel. There are other works in progress. But as re- gards to these, one still has to see. Everything in its own time. Thabbat, Xtaqtek is pub- lished by Horizons. THIS WEEK LITERATURE "The possibility of publication does not change anything for me" Fr Gioele Galea reading and participating at the 2016 edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival. Photography by Virginia Monteforte