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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2017 30 This Week What have been some of the most important developments for the National Book Festival over the last few years, and how would you say this year's edition builds on last year's? Without doubt, the most salient change has been the shift in em- phasis from fair to festival. The Malta Book Festival nowadays is truly a festival, not just a book bazaar. The commercial element is still strong, of course – this is the best opportunity for publish- ers and booksellers to display their products to the public. However, book sales are now part of a greater whole – a mas- sive celebration of the book culture that involves local and foreign authors, publishers, art- ists, performers and members of the public. The emphasis is on the book experience. For this reason, the Festival is now struc- tured around the programme of cultural events – readings, book launches and presentations, meetings with authors, exhibi- tions and drama. Each edition of the Festival is now themed – for this year, we have chosen the theme of the notion of 'truth' in literature – and the theme determines the se- lection of special guests, who are typically local or foreign authors or publishers. The choice of theme is informed by current developments in the political scene and this ensures continuity between different editions of the Fes- tival, with last year's theme having been totalitarianism and literature. While statistics have shown that lending from public libraries in Malta appears to be healthy enough, another survey, published earlier this year, has revealed that the majority of Maltese don't read. What does the National Book Council make of this, and what role can an event like the National Book Festival play to better this situation? The Malta Book Festival is one of many initiatives by the National Book Council that are aimed at bringing people and books to- gether. That is the main motiva- tion behind the shift in emphasis I mentioned above. We want people to experience literature not just in the form of a book as a product that can be bought, shelved and, maybe, read. The programme of events features drama pieces based on literary texts, interviews with authors where the latter can talk about and discuss the themes and mo- tifs that inform their work, film adaptations with discussions between the director and the au- thor, and other such events. One of the goals is to show the public that literature, including fiction, has direct relevance to their lives, besides being great fun. The el- ement of fun is also extremely important and our weekday morning events are all dedicated to schoolchildren with plenty of fun activities such as games, dra- ma and even workshops aimed at encouraging reading in both the young and the very young. That the majority of the Maltese do not read is a fact, unfortu- nately. A fact that those working in our line have been painfully aware of for a long time. Howev- er, one should note that the same survey you mentioned indicates an increase in visitor intensity of festivals, in particular the Malta Book Festival. We believe that the strategy I outlined above, which we have been following over the past few years, will pay off in the long term. At the end of the day, change in this trend will have to start at the roots, i.e., with chil- dren, who are usually not targeted in such surveys, meaning that any shift in the reading habits of the Maltese will tend to re- main invisible to most surveys dur- ing the initial stages of its development. How does the National Book Festival help out local publishers? And will it ever be at a stage when it can provide local writers bona fide chances to interact with international agents, editors and publishers in a way that can further their career prospects? The Festival is without any doubt the greatest op- portunity publishers get to promote and display their work locally. The cultural programme gives them the means to do so in a variety of ways. We encourage them to con- tribute to the programme and the response we get is very encouraging. The lo- cal market is small but over the last few years we have witnessed the emergence of a record number of authors, some of whom are not afraid of touching upon all kinds of themes and topics. Among other things, this means that Maltese publishers now have material that can kindle in- ternational interest. This year we have invited an Egyptian pub- lisher, Ahmed Moneid, to give a presentation on his experi- ence as a publisher of subversive literature in Egypt. He will be one of the special guests of this year's edition. The programme also features an intervention by Kristina Quintano, a Norwegian- Maltese translator and publisher. We certainly aim to have attract international agents and pub- lishers to the Festival in order to widen the range of opportunities Having just announced this year's edition of the event, John Grech, the Manager of the Malta Book Festival, speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about what's in store for the annual celebration of local book culture, taking place early next month Creating the literary reference the reading habits of the Maltese will tend to re- editors and publishers in a way that can further The Festival is without any doubt the greatest op- portunity publishers get to promote and display their work locally. The cultural programme gives them the means to do so in a variety of ways. We encourage them to con- tribute to the programme and the response we get is very encouraging. The lo- cal market is small but over the last few years we have witnessed the emergence of a record number of authors, some of whom are not afraid of touching upon all kinds of themes and topics. Among other things, this means that Maltese publishers now have material that can kindle in- ternational interest. This year WWW.KTIEB.ORG.MT 8-12 NOVEMBER Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta Book the Malta 2017 This year's edition of the Malta Book Festival will be taking place from November 8 to 12 Mario Azzopardi will be commemorated with the lifetime achievement award at this year's edition of the festival