Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/451763
VII This week maltatoday, Sunday, 25 January 2015 Local authors get paid for library lending for the first time national Book Council issues first batch of cheques to local authors benefiting from the Public Lending rights Scheme The National Book Council this week issued its first payments to local authors, following the launch of the Public Lending Rights Scheme, which enables Maltese writers to be paid based on the amount of times their books have been borrowed from local librar- ies. Addressing the press confer- ence on Wednesday, National Book Council Chairman Mark Camilleri jokingly said that the remunerated authors could be di- vided in two categories, "regular authors... and Trevor Zahra". Zahra, arguably Malta's most popular and enduring author, topped the list with a total of 5,128 books borrowed over a three-month period, securing him a total of €1,890.44 from the scheme. He is followed by Charles Casha – of Fra Mudest fame – whose books were taken out 942 times (€347.27) and Clare Azzopardi, whose work encompasses both adult and children's literature, and who secured €340.63 based on 924 borrowed books during the September 15 to December 8, 2014 period. Education Minister Evarist Bar- tolo also addressed the confer- ence, emphasising that the move aims to recognise the efforts of local writers. Both Camilleri and Bartolo said that while other art forms like theatre and music tend to have a more regular access to funding, local literature feels somewhat lacking in this regard. "We're lucky to have among us people who have put in the effort to create books – and this goes for both authors and publish- ers – despite not having any real monetary reward on the horizon. With this small step, we will at least show that authors should be valued in the same way as artists from other fields are," Bartolo said. Bartolo added that he is also engaging in talks with publishers, to determine how best to help their production and to promote their books. "We should be proud of our authors on an international level, especially given that some of them are already enjoying recognition beyond our shores. If we've managed to find ways of marketing a can of peas, why can't we find innovative ways of marketing books?" Bartolo said, adding that books are crucial to our cultural identity. This year, Maltese authors will benefit from €25,000 worth of payments, with the first pay- ment covering lending in the last season of 2014. Meanwhile the Book Council said that it is "doing its utmost" to put necessary pressure on Maltese libraries to accelerate their cataloguing process, so that all local authors could benefit from the scheme. Malta Book Council Chairman Mark Camilleri (left) and Education Minister Evarist Bartolo MCAST students adapt Maltese poetry to film Short films aim to help secondary school students get better grasp on Maltese poetry The MCAST College of Art and Design at Targa Gap, Mosta, this week inaugurated 14 short film adaptations of classic Maltese po- etry by its students. Students of the BA Hons. course in Media and Moving Image, led by lecturer Ian Attard, were tasked with adapting poetry by the likes of Dun Karm, Ruzar Briffa, Joe Frig- gieri and others. MCAST princi- pal Stephen Vella said that the aim of the project, which currently includes poems covered in Form 1 and 2, is to give young students a better grasp of the poetry they are studying. "This is not to say that the work of our great poets is in any way unclear, but when you're a young student it's helpful to have some visual cues," Vella said during the project's inauguration last Thursday. Attard said the project also aims to give Maltese poetry more lasting relevance. "Our students had an inter- esting challenge in adapt- ing a work that was written some years ago, to a contempo- rary context. If we manage to open this kind of dialogue with the past, what would ide- ally happen is that other students and artists will also interpret the poems in their own way in subsequent years. In that way, Maltese poetry remains alive and entirely relevant." Speaking to MaltaTo- day, Jorje Bosios, one of the participating students, said that the students were given carte blanche on which poems they could choose. Having picked Gorg Borg's Il-Bejjiegh tal-Gazzetti, Bosios proceeded to adapt the "short and sweet" poem into a song, giving her short film a music video bent. Addressing the students, Edu- cation Minister Evarist Bartolo congratulated all the participat- ing students, and urged them to endeavour to not only consume the works of great artists, but to create their own as well. www.gourmettoday.recipes