Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/587664
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2015 39 This Week National Book Festival aims to bring 'literary' dimension back THIS Malta Book Festival 2015 focus is strictly literary – more so than ever before. The rebranding of the strictly sales oriented Book Fair of the past into a Festival that is cultural and educational in spirit has attracted over 30,000 visitors in 2014. Attracting foreign participa- tion to the Festival is one way in which the National Book Council (NBC) hopes to help instill a more collaborative spirit in the literary scene. Curating and creating events that would hopefully encourage dialogue between authors and pub- lishers – even collaboration with foreign entities in the field. Among the international authors taking part in this year's edition of the Book Festival, there will be French author Marie Darrieussecq, who will be inter- viewed by Prof. Toni Aquilina on November 4 at 19:00; Syrian author Maram al-Masri, who will be dis- cussing her work with her Maltese translator on November 7 at 19:00; Romanian poet and publisher duo Dan Sociu and Bogdan Stanescu (who will participate in a poetry workshop with local author Im- manuel Mifsud on November 6 at 19:00) and French publisher Clive Boutle, who will be discussing the anthology 'This Fair Land: An Anthology of Maltese Literature' edited by Charles Briffa on No- vember 4 at 20:30. The event will also feature a conference entitled 'Writers for Peace – Kittieba għal Paċi', or- ganised by the NBC to encourage dialogue between authors about literature's role in the context of current developments taking place in Europe with particular reference to the war in Syria and the immigration crisis, which will be taking place on November 5 at 19:30, featuring speakers Marie Darrieussecq, Maram al-Masri, Dan Sociu, Antoine Cassar and Walid Nabhan. The Festival is headed towards multi media whilst staying root- ed in the literary. The NBC PBS Short Film Contest which funds a short film adaptation of a locally published short story per year is becoming a staple of the Festival. The multi mediatic approach is an- other way in which the NBC hopes to tap into new, perhaps seemingly reluctant readers. This year's win- ners of the NBC PBS Short Film Contest were 2Doors Media with their short-film proposal 'Dar ir-Rum- mien' – an adaptation of a story by Pierre J. Meilak from 'Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid'. The public is in- vited to its premiere during the Festival on November 7 at 20:00. A lot of attention has been invested in the children's and young stu- dents' programme of morning events turning what was previously a more time tabled affair into a more ho- listic and interac- tive experience. All the activities during Festival weekday morn- ings are tailored to enhance the b o o k - b u y i n g experience and transform it into an educational and interactive experience in itself. Every student visiting with their school will be given a €3 voucher (an improvement on last year's scheme which issued €2 per stu- dent) to be redeemed against a book or indeed a small selection of books of their choosing during their visit. Moreover, Premju Terramaxka will become the highlight of mornings at the Festival. The winners of this national book prize for original and translated books aimed for the 0-7, 8-12 and 13-16 yrs categories will be announced a day prior to the Festival and celebrated on weekday mornings in a likewise entertaining and educational display curated by the Education Department's Drama Unit.