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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 MAY 2020 4 THIS WEEK LITERATURE Young author and activist Lara Calleja speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about her debut short story collection – and second published work following the 2016 novella 'Lucy Min?' – Kissirtu Kullimkien, which toggles between politically charged screeds against Malta's overdevelopment drive and compassionate pleas for the marginalised members of society Singing through the wreckage Your debut novel Lucy Min? came out in 2016. How would you say this collection builds on what you learned when you wrote that book, its general reception and the feedback you've received since? Kissirtu Kullimkien is definitely more political. Lucy Min? is written almost as a diary-form-novel with sporadic chap- ters about bold events that seemed to shape Lucy's life. However, while Kissirtu Kullimkien is certainly more political in many ways, it still gives vent to strong emotions that we can all relate to, irrespective of our differences. I also naturally found myself using the same 'writing tone' – it's a style I'm comfortable with, as it is very direct with all of its sharp edges and 'shame- lessness'. For both books in fact the feedback was constant, simply because they both appeared to speak to people on a very personal level. I'm not sure if this is sup- posed to be the 'ideal purpose' of liter- ature, but the compliment is something I cherish, since, at the end of the day, relating to people is something which I prioritise as a basic necessity in both life and art. Perhaps there's something to be said for the fact that the characters are not in any way exceptional ('m'huma ħadd speċjali') but it is for that reason which I believe they easily resonate with all kinds of different people. Obviously, however, there's plenty of room for im- provement. Being open to constant crit- icism is a crucial part of the process. Kissirtu Kullimkien rails very explicitly against issues such as overdevelopment and its many pitfalls, the plight of (par- ticularly African) migrants in Malta and the mistreatment and marginalisation of all who would be considered 'Other' to the mainstream. Is writing a form of activism for you first and foremost, and were you at any point worried that this could overwhelm the artistic and narrative thrust of the stories? A few months after Lucy Min? was published in 2016, I started writing again. At the time, the ongoing con- struction of a massive apartment block was happening just opposite from where I lived. Halfway through its completion, I went through a nervous breakdown – the noise, the dust, the ongoing chaos – it was too much and since I was going through a stressful time of my life, this made things much worse. Though I always was politically en- gaged, it was during that time that my writing started shifting towards a more explicitly political bent. Some two years later, I also became an ac- tivist with Moviment Graffitti. There I found solace to belong within an organ- isation who had a structured approach to fight for a better standard of living, in every respect. People from all walks of life send us messages of concern and heartbreak, with issues ranging from bad working conditions to construction trauma and to all sorts of political is- sues, which affect the day-to-day life of many citizens. However, I've also made sure that the political content of the short stories is balanced out evenly with its emotional resonance. The collection is dedicated to the vet- eran author Immanuel Mifsud, and its political thrust mirrors Mifsud's latest, often caustic missive, L-Aqwa Zmien. What kind of affinity do you feel to- wards Mifsud as an author, and to what