Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1500237
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 MAY 2023 6 ALMANAC My essentials LEANNE ELLUL 33, writer/lecturer I write poetry, stories for adults, and stories for children. When not writing (and reading and researching), I love walking, cooking, dancing, and travelling. I have tried playing the piano and playing football but failed miserably. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. But poetry will always be at the heart of what I do. 1 4 5 1. Book 2. Film 3. Internet 4. Music 5. Place NERD alert: Sometimes I browse YouTube for online lectures. I stumbled upon Rosi Braidotti's lectures; some dating back to the nineties. I had never read any of her work nor listened to her. She engrossed me with some of her arguments about cultural poli- tics, gender, and the body. Her arguments made me think fur- ther and harder – which is some- thing I seek. So, every now and again, I listen to another lecture of hers. FLORENCE and the Ma- chine and Dance Fever. I have always loved Florence as an artist; her way of life speaks volumes to me. Last November, my lifelong friend and I went to see her in London only to find out (while on the train) that the show got cancelled because she broke her leg. We then managed to see her a few months later. Seeing her live on stage was ever so special. Her voice is unfailing. Her presence is breath-taking. I also love Dance Fever be- cause of the poem versions of the songs! Her lyrics are indeed poetry. IX-XATT l-Aħmar. Because there is a strange story relat- ed to it. A few months back, my partner and I went for a walk and he suggested ix-Xatt l-Aħmar. It was going to be a first for me. As soon as the bay came into view, I stepped back dumbfounded because it was the same bay I had dreamt about some years ago. Except that the dream was an apoca- lyptic one. It was uncomforta- ble. But it was beautiful. Gozo is beautiful in general. And I hope it retains its beauty in an overbuilt country of cranes and construction. SHY by Max Porter. I bought the book while on holiday from a small bookshop in Utrecht. Having read other works by Porter, I was looking forward to this one. The dis- jointed narrative is fragment- ed further through different fonts and layouts, whereby the form echoes the content. It is a story about a troubled teenag- er, Shy, albeit a book for teen- agers. Shy is neither a poetry book nor a novel in the tradi- tional sense, and somehow it is both. The book defies genre only to create something of its own. THE Lost Daughter (dir. Mag- gie Gyllenhaal). A film like this is reason enough to pay for my Netflix subscription. The film oscillates between truth and deceit, reality and fiction. Childhood and motherhood collide while we, as an audi- ence, keep on asking questions till the very end (even after the film has finished). Of course, I had to watch it because of Ol- ivia Coleman. She truly brings out the character of a disori- ented child in the body of an accomplished grown woman. I then went on to read the book by Elena Ferrante. And it did not disappoint either. 3 2