Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/814533
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 APRIL 2017 This Week 33 APRIL 29 Mueran Humanos Live Spanish act Mueran Humanos will be performing alongside YEWS and The Velts at Razzett L-Ahmar, Mosta at 21:00. Mueran Humanos consists of an Argentinian Duo Carmen Burguess (vocals, drum machines, synths) and Tomas Nochteff (vocals, bass, drum machines) who together make propulsive, unfurling Spanish language pop songs using experimental, punk and avant- garde methods. Also featuring DJ sets by Lady Irene, The Chemist and Darren Borg. Tickets are at €15. Bookings: https://shop. trackagescheme.com/event/ mueran-humanos-live/. EXHIBITION UNTIL MAY 17 Truth || Lies Collective and exhibition by local and international artists themed around the mutability of the truth in the current media landscape, held at Blitz, St Lucy Street, Valletta. Featured artists include: Armenoui Kasparian Saraidari, Sara Rees, Giuseppe Torre, Erica Giusta, Guillaume Dreyfuss, Jacques Borg Barthet, Manali Jagtap-Nyheim, Tom Bull, Philip Cartelli, Mariangela Ciccarello, Arnold Aganze, Ina Lounguine, Will Henry Carter and Neale Willis. The exhibition will open on April 20 at 19:00, and remain on display at the venue until May 17. Opening times at Blitz are: 10:00-15:00 (Tuesday to Thursday); 15:00 to 19:00 (Friday and Saturday). THEATRE TONIGHT AND APRIL 24-26; 27, 30; MAY 1, 2 Twelfth Night WhatsTheirNames Theatre production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at The Pub, Archbishop Street, Valletta at 20:00. There will also be morning performances at April 22, 23 and 29 at 10:00. Spaces are limited to 20 places for each performance. Directed by Philip Leone-Ganado. Cast includes Joe Azzopardi, Nathan Brimmer, Becky Camilleri, Joanna Wills and Joseph Zammit. Tickets: whatstheirnames. theatre@gmail.com; 7734 5207 or 7905 2522. FESTIVAL APRIL 25-30 Valletta Green Festival Annual festival celebrating horticultural awareness at St George's Square, Valletta. Featuring an 'infjorata' – a floral carpet composed of some 80,000 seasonal flowering plants. Throughout the Valletta Green Festival, the programme of events will also explore the theme of environmental sustainability from multiple angles, with educational workshops, information sessions, and music and entertainment events taking place around St George's Square and other venues within the capital. WHAT'S ON Maltese-Palestinian author Walid Nabhan has won the Eu- ropean Union Prize for Litera- ture 2017 for his novel L-Ezodu tac-Cikonji. The European Union Prize for Literature is awarded annually to 12 authors, recognising literary talent from all corners of Europe. In a statement, L-Akkademja tal-Malti, which represents the prize on a local level, said that in nominating this year's win- ner – something which is done in three-year intervals – the choice fell on Nabhan for his novel cen- tred around a protagonist born to a refugee Palestinian family in Jordan who finds himself in Malta. The protagonist in Nabhan's novel creates a narrative of his experiences abroad and as a refu- gee within a large Palestinian community in Jordan, referring also his family's experience in Palestine. The novel emphasises relation- ships among people in the midst of a difficult situation, while also delving into the political nature of the forces that created it. The national jury within the Akkademja comprised Stella Borg-Barthet, Stephen Bonanno, Norbert Ellul Vincenti, Marco Galea and Adrian Grima. Winning authors of the Euro- pean Union Prize for Literature receive a cash prize of €5,000, as well as gaining increased in- ternational visibility and cross- border promotion, starting at the awards ceremony in Brussels and continuing at Europe's major book fairs. The other two Maltese authors to win the prize were Immanuel Mifsud in 2011 and Pierre J. Me- jlak in 2014. The National Book Council an- nounces it has opened the Malta Book Fund for the second time. The Fund, which carries a to- tal value of €40,000 and is open to both writers and publish- ers, is comprised of two types of grants – publication and educa- tion grants, each grant carrying a maximum of €5,000. Publication grants are meant to subsidise projects involving the publication of books in Meliten- sia, either in print form or as eb- ooks. Preference will given to am- bitious projects of high cultural content and relevance to Maltese society, especially when such pro- jects might not be commercially viable because of the limitations of the local book market. The latter consideration in ef- fect excludes all projects that are seen to be perfectly self- sustainable if distributed along well-established routes in the local market. Books based solely on imagery or photography are also excluded from the scheme. Translation projects are sup- ported as long as they involve translation of works from foreign languages into Maltese. Education grants will subsidise travel, lodging and participation fees incurred by projects that aim to promote the training, fur- ther education and research and development of authors, editors and publishers. In practice, the grants will support the participa- tion of authors, editors and pub- lishers in short courses that can be shown to be highly relevant to their field of work. This includes workshops, training sessions, study programmes and all kinds of educational experience related to writing and publication. Eligibility criteria have been left sufficiently open-ended so as to be as inclusive as possible of dif- ferent projects and initiatives. Regulations and restrictions still apply but the main criteria for the grants are concerned with the cultural value of the projects and their feasibility. A specially- appointed Board of Adjudica- tion will evaluate each project in a rigorous application process that will ascertain both the value of the project and the need for funding. It is important that ap- plicants keep in mind that the ul- timate aim of the Fund is to boost confidence in projects that will have a positive impact on the lo- cal book market. The deadline for applications is September 29. Applications may be downloaded from the website of the National Book Council at www.ktieb.org, where applicants will also find the criteria for the adjudication of the grants, which they are urged to peruse very care- fully before they submit their ap- plication The new publication on Oliver Friggieri, Ħsiebu Jsuqu, presents the subject as confronting hu- manity's conscience. In fact, the sub-title of the book refers to the literary actuality that Oliver Frig- gieri is maintaining and sustaining humanity with his writing. The book, Ħsiebu Jsuqu, tries to cre- ate a literary and human profile of Friggieri, who is Professor of Maltese Literature at the Univer- sity of Malta. He is also the fore- most Maltese literary critic and a national author. He has published extensively and in his creative writing he attempts to interpret the sentiments and attitudes of a people living in the Central Medi- terranean. An exponent of the new wave of Maltese Literature of the 1960s, Friggieri is an author who has dominated the second half of the 20th century and has entered the new millennium with great liter- ary confidence. Ħsiebu Jsuqu cap- tures Friggieri's feelings, thoughts, and mind style from his writings. It projects a compact, coherent image of him as a relevant con- temporary national author: that is, it embodies an image of some of the works most characteristic of him to show what constitutes the relevant literary output of Friggie- ri in a modern environment. His poetry, short stories, and novels have been translated into sixteen languages. On the inter- national scene, his poetry was included in some of the major poetry recitals held throughout Europe; and on the local scene, many of his poems have been set to music as oratorios, cantatas, and hymns, whereas some of his novels have been set on stage and televised. Some of his poems may be found on CD. The book makes it clear that through the medium of literature Friggieri assumes the role of the conscience of a nation. He pro- claims its traditional positive ele- ments in his longer poetic works, but exposes its present negative qualities in his fiction. His prose is not a weapon for war but a cry for justice and honesty. It is sim- ple enough to retain the common readers ' attention and intriguing enough to involve their thinking. This is Ħsiebu Jsuqu, written by Charles Briffa who is Professor of Maltese Literature and Transla- tion at the University of Malta, and who is himself a literary critic. It is published by Horizons, and is available from all Agenda book- shops Walid Nabhan wins EU Prize for Literature Malta Book Fund 2017 now open The grants are meant to subsidise projects involving the publication of books in Melitensia, either in print form or as ebooks Maltese-Palestinian author Walid Nabhan has won the European Union Prize for Literature 2017 for his novel L-Ezodu tac-Cikonji Walid Nabhan Horizons publish new book on the thoughts and work of Oliver Friggieri