Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/800760
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 MARCH 2017 39 This Week On March 22, Prof. Manwel Mifsud will be giving a public talk in Mal- tese about the Gozitan folk-singer Fredu Spiteri, 'il-Lavarist', at 18:00 in the Engineering Lecture Theatre (ELT) of the University of Malta in Tal-Qroqq, Msida. The talk, 'Mistur u minsi: Fredu Spiteri (il-Lavarist)' is the eighth in a series organised by the Depart- ment of Maltese in the Faculty of Arts as part of its project on Oral Traditions. Fredu Spiteri (1929-1965), also known as "il-Lavarist" or "Tal- Pitrolju", was a Gozitan għannej (folksinger) and makkjettist (għana and makkjetta composer-and-sing- er) whose lyrics and charisma on stage pulled the crowds of Gozitans and Maltese. During the talk, Man- wel Mifsud will be playing rare re- cordings of Fredu Spiteri's għana. The project about It-Tradizzjoni Orali is supported by Klabb Kotba Maltin. More information on this talk and on the project is available on Facebook and at tradizzjonio- raliblog.wordpress.com. Light re- freshments will be served after the talk. Rare ghana recordings and a talk on Fredu Spiteri, 'il-Lavarist' Publishers and authors showcase their wares at the Campus Book Festival THE National Book Council has launched the programme of events for the Book Festi- val on Campus 2017, which will take place at University of Malta over April 4-6, start- ing 10:00 and continuing un- til late. The purpose of the Festival is to promote litera- ture as a whole, while at the same time giving publishers and book distributors a space in which they can promote their material with a mature audience, such as university students. The publishers and dis- tributors participating in the festival are Horizons, Faraxa Books, Sensiela Kotba Soc- jalisti (SKS), Students Philo- sophical Society, Ede Books, Kotba Calleja, and BDL, some of whom will be setting up events of their own. Among these we find Horizons, who will launch a poetry collec- tion by Prof. Kenneth Wain, entitled 'Who looks at the sun anymore' and Faraxa, who have also prepared a poetry evening. Kotba Calleja will be holding two workshops on the art of book binding. Apart from the publishers and book distributors, other participants in the Festival have contributed to the pro- gramme. The poet Miriam Calleja will lead a workshop on the topic of creative writ- ing which is open to all writ- ers of all levels. The event will involve a number of ex- ercises and games, prompts and guidelines, as well as ad- vice on how to improve one's writing. The event will close with a reading of Calleja's poetry both in English and in Maltese. Other events of academic interest include 'Il- Malti u l-Barranin', set up by Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Lsien Malti, where a number of people who studied Maltese as a foreign language will talk about what motivated them to learn Maltese and why Maltese of all the languages in the world, and 'X'naqbad ngħid?', a talk and discussion on linguistic variations in Maltese, which will be led by Michael Spagnol. The special guest of the fes- tival is Caroline Smailes, the renowned author of In Search of Adam, Like Bees to Honey, 99 Reasons Why and The Drowning of Arthur Brax- ton, which is currently being made into a film. Smailes, who is of Maltese descent, was born in Newcas- tle and has studied creative writing. During the festival she will be leading workshops on the subjects of creative writing, aspects of narration such as the choice of dialogue diction and location, the need for convincing and consist- ent characters and the ques- tion of linguistic inheritance. There will also be an activity in which excerpts of Smailes' work will be read and mem- bers of the public will be able to address the author directly. Every year the programme of the Festival includes a mu- sical performance, which this year will be given by the Hip- Hop act Marmalja, whose performance will close the first night of the Festival – April 4. To see the full programme, log on to: http://ktieb.org. mt/?p=3352 UK writer of Maltese descent Caroline Smailes will be the special guest at this year's edition of the Festival, taking place April 4 to 6 Caroline Smailes will give a number of talks and workshops during the Campus Book Festival Prof. Manwel Mifsud. Photo by Charlene Valentina Giordimaina