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8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS Today 100 best recipes Today 100 best recipes FOOD Saying it aS it iS SAVIOUR BALZAN Volume I In volume 1 of 'Saying it as it is', Saviour Balzan tells the story of his journey from being an active environmentalist, to becoming a teacher, a politician, a journalist and finally, the owner of a media house. In his uncouth and abrasive style, he speaks frankly about the thankless job of being an investigative reporter and what running a media house truly entails. But perhaps more interesting, however, are the anecdotes and inside stories also embedded in the narrative, which pick up on key happenings over the past few years. The book also has a semi-autobiographical streak, as Balzan reminisces over the incidents that ended up having an effect on his writings. He uncovers the political networks and the friends and foes of the politicians who dominated the Maltese political scene for the past 35 years. Zoning in on events which he believes left a lasting impact on readers, Balzan expands on the background behind important news stories. In 'Saying it as it is', what emerges most clearly is that scandals have no political boundaries. Saviour Balzan takes us through a brief journey of his journalistic work. He also underscores the influence of politics and politicians in Malta, and the challenges of independent journalism. MediaToday Co. Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann. SGN 9016, Malta www.maltatoday.com.mt Saying it aS it iS Volume I SAVIOUR BALZAN SAVIOUR BALZAN was born in Birkirkara, Malta in 1963. He was a biology and environmental science teacher for eight years and a part-time journalist during that time. He was active in the environmental lobby and later co-founded the Green Party in 1989 but left politics altogether in 1997. He worked for the newspapers il-Fehma, Alternattiva, The People, and The Independent. He was appointed editor of MaltaToday in 1999 and today co-owns that same newspaper, as well as the independent media company MediaToday based in San Gwann. At MaltaToday he built a reputation for running the most daring, investigative and independent newsroom. He hosted the TV discussion programme Reporter for seven years on PBS until his programme was stopped in 2009. He now hosts the same daily discussion programme on Favourite Channel. He lives in Naxxar with his wife and two children. €30 ISBN 978-99957-0-427-8 20mm All round Bleed DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS Charles Gauci Dragonflies are large, oen brightly coloured, insects which few people would not notice actively flying over water, whether it is while walking along water reservoirs in valleys or while visiting gardens where water features are present. However, these are only one stage in their life cycle aer having spent a much longer period living under water as larvae. Most species of dragonflies and damselflies are highly habitat specific in both their larval and adult stages. e Maltese Islands lack most types of riparian habitats and as a result the number of species found locally is very small. is is compensated for by the high concentration of these insects at most water bodies. is book describes each of the nineteen species recorded in the Maltese Islands and each species is amply illustrated by photographs which, for the commoner species, illustrate most or all the stages in their life cycle. It is hoped that besides being of help and interest to nature lovers, it will also raise a much needed awareness among the general public about biodiversity and nature conservation,. e author spent fourteen years teaching Integrated Science and Biology at secondary State schools before moving to the Għadira Nature Reserve where he was Managing Warden until his retirement twenty four years later. He has been interested in dragonflies for the last ten years. Having been an avid bird watcher since his early teens, he co-authored a number of ornithological books – Bird Studies on Filfla, L-Agħsafar, A Guide to the Birds of Malta, A New Guide to the Birds of Malta and e Breeding Birds of Malta. He also co-authored several ornithological papers and was the editor of BirdLife Malta's scientific journal 'il- Merill' from 1986 to 1994. Since his initial interest in dragonflies in 2008 he has been so fascinated by these wonderful insects to the extent that they now oen take precedence over birds. ISBN: 978-99957-894-0-4 Ebba von Fersen Balzan Choppy Books ART " She is admirably consistent and tenacious, especially when it comes to self- criticism and experimenting. She is open and insistently curious to find out what this country, its people and its culture have to say. She manages to squeeze a complete atelier into the smallest of rooms – sometimes not much bigger than a ladies' toilet! She is well organised and full of ideas. She allows playful and conceptual work to live together. More and more, her art gains its own, idiosyncratic expression. Acrylic turns out to be the most convenient basic material. It is mated with anything that does not answer back: oil pastels, ink, collages … Mainly, she works locally: Within the Neolithic temples, in the fields, at the shipyards, in the harbours and scrapyards, in bays, between houses and at the summer jazz festivals at night, abusing her rolling shopping trolley for the transport of her painting materials. Even the laundry horse finds a new calling : she hangs up the finished paintings with pegs in order to dry. And have I mentioned that she is well organised? In other words: she does not spare anything. Not even her husband and her animals! " Katrin Bartling , October 2008 e author Aer Ebba von Fersen Balzan's death, Saviour Balzan decided to collate a representation of her works and snippets about her life. It is only a fraction of her work. ousands of others have yet to be discovered in her studios in France and Malta. Balzan married Ebba in 1987. ey lived together in their home in Naxxar, Malta and Plussulien in Briany. He plans to keep Ebba's Galerie 22320 in Briany open with her works. He has edited this book and personally selected representative examples from thousands of un-exhibited and exhibited works from his private collection. He writes a personal contribution about his late wife. Saviour, a journalist by profession, comments in his contribution that this is but a glimpse of Ebba's work. "It is my way of paying tribute to a friend whom I revered and loved," he writes. "I would like this work to serve as a catalyst for future appraisals of Ebba's life and work." e contributors Katrin Bartling, a German artist, was Ebba's artist friend for over 38 years. She remained her closest confidante until the day she died. She writes a very personal account of their friendship and her work: "She discovers linocut and develops it to perfection, bonding prints with paintings. e result is an extraordinary, exciting symbiosis." Jeni Caruana, a British-Maltese artist, worked with Ebba for over 18 years. Jeni says this about her: "One of our hopes at the time was to get the temples recognised as worthy subjects for artists (beforehand they only featured occasionally in collections) and thereby raise the public's awareness about the aesthetic value of Malta's unique heritage." Vince Briffa, a Maltese artist and family friend, officiated in June 2008 the first exhibition of Ebba's works aer her death. It featured works from her vast collection of sketches. "Ebba was one of those few who not only captured and acted upon what she considered important material for her artistic output; but she 'felt', rather than 'saw' form and colour especially. I find that these sketches possess the same aura of calculated exuberance of both form and colour so typical of Ebba's character." Louis Laganà, a Maltese art critic, covered Ebba's exhibitions in 2006, her last but most prolific year. He opined then: "e primitivistic approach, which the artist successfully succeeded in demonstrating in her works, can be described as a sort of romanticised vision of life. An element of exoticism also runs strongly in most of her work. e human body, especially that of the female, is expressed with a finesse of line, which creates an element of sophistication." Raphael Vella, an artist and art critic followed Ebba's work over the years. In a review on the paintings shown in this book he observes: "If paint can be said to represent the artist's ego, then Ebba's art is a process of incessant self-denial; we are never sure when Ebba is 'finished' with a painting (or somewhat paradoxically, when the painting is 'finished' with Ebba). One can almost imagine that the painting continues to grow without the artist, even now, aer her death." Toni Abela, a politician and lawyer and long-time friend of the family, writes a personal appreciation. "I stubbornly maintain that somewhere in Ebba's 'children' there are the genes of Paul Gauguin. e continuous use of foliage, the bright, exotic colours and the deep sense of spirituality and creation, are unmistakably Gauguin's." Vicky-Ann Cremona is Malta's Ambassador to France. She officiated Ebba's last exhibition at Galerie 22320 in Briany in September 2006. She gives a personal account of her personal impressions of Ebba's work. Julie Apap, a British-Maltese ceramist, was one of Ebba's closest friends who worked with her in her last years. Her ceramics complemented many of Ebba's works. ey spent hours together discussing art form. Ebba von Fersen Balzan Back cover Ebba von Fersen Balzan: The best seller, 2005 Front cover Ebba von Fersen Balzan: C'est le matin, 2006 Ebba von Fersen Balzan was born in a family of Baltic- German nobility in 1957 in Darmstadt, Germany. She studied graphic design and German literature in Frankfurt and Darmstadt. She worked in publishing, advertising and in diverse other related fields, but always remained active as a painter. In 1987 she seled in Malta and married Saviour Balzan, taking up painting as a full-time commitment. In Malta she also worked for the Friedrich Ebert-Stiung, the German social-democratic foundation. She was particularly keen to promote women's issues and the plight of migrants arriving in Malta from Africa. She set up her art studio in Naxxar, from where she worked always in the company of her cats Zimza, Miss Pinkerton and Zuzu, and her faithful dogs Trulla, Agathe, and Oo and Oskar, the Maltese kelb tal-fenek (Pharaoh Hound). Over the years a clear paern of favourite subjects evolved: the prehistoric sites of Malta, and later Briany (France), landscapes, animals, plants and still life. An annual event for ten consecutive years was Ebba's live painting during the three nights of the Malta Jazz Festival at Ta' Liesse in Vallea. She worked with acrylics, inks and pastels, and preferably in situ. Studio work include collage techniques and lino printing, but also experimental work on and with various media. is invariably led to abstract or semi-abstract work. She also experimented with wood, ceramics and stone. Since 1982 she mounted various exhibitions in Malta, Italy, France, the United States and Germany. In Malta she also held solo exhibitions, and took part in group and collective shows. Her work can be found in many private collections in Malta, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy and Australia. In 2001 she opened an art gallery and art studio in a renovated, old Catholic school in Plussulien in Briany. She held various exhibitions there. Her last exhibition was in September 2006. Galerie 22320 is still open to this day with many of her exhibits. Ebba died on 16 March 2008, in Malta. CHURCHES IN MALTA maltatoday PART 1 TOWERS, FORTS & BATTERIES IN MALTA maltatoday MALTATODAY ©2017 in collaboration with the MTA TOWERS, FORTS & BATTERIES IN MALTA maltatoday CHURCHES PART 2 maltatoday MALTATODAY ©2019 in collaboration with the MTA IN GOZO maltatoday CHURCHES IN GOZO MaltaToday is 20 this year! Relive the highlights of the past 20 years through the eyes of MaltaToday's cartoonists €9.25 €8 €20 €2.50 €20 €20 €20 €2.50 €2.50 €34.25 Treat yourself to some good reading while staying safe at home Send a cheque addressed to MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 together with your name, address and contact number. PURCHASE ALL THE BOOKS AT HALF PRICE INCLUDING FREE HOME DELIVERY TOTAL: €69.87 instead of €139.75 PLUS €5 postage and packing per book Bank of Valletta excavations near Wignacourt aqueduct worries watchdog JAMES DEBONO THE Superintendence for Cultural Herit- age has expressed concern on a proposed increase in height for an ancillary devel- opment to the Bank of Valletta headquar- ters. The site is located in very close prox- imity to the Wignacourt Aqueducts, which are scheduled with a Grade 1 protection. The five-storey development is accom- panied by the excavation of three base- ment levels, proposed just three meters away from the historical aqueduct. The proposed works entail the demo- lition of the existing bank ancillary of- fice and archives building, the excava- tion for three basement levels and the construction of five floors. Half of the site lies within the Urban Conservation Area in an area character- ised by a predominant building height of two floors along Triq il-Kbira San Guzepp, and within all Urban Conser- vation Area. But the building height increased from a two-floor premises to five, within a streetscape dominated by two storey buildings and receded structures. The SCH reiterated its concerns in- sisting that "any proposed height is to be in keeping with the existing predom- inate height of two floors (ground floor and ground floor) and a roof structure." The SCH has also expressed concern on the extensive excavation works and the impact on both the UCA and the aq- ueduct, and called for a buffer zone to protect the Grade 1 scheduled aqueduct from any excavation works. No plans are available on the PA's in- formation system. A provision of the law exempts banks, airports and buildings related to nation- al security from publishing such plans. The bank's architect Edwin Mintoff recently asked for the suspension of the application, in an indication that plans could be changed to address concerns expressed by heritage bodies. BOV's new premiere banking centre