In September 2013 I was in the French city of Besançon to read my poetry to 14 and 16-year old students and to the general public, and to take part in the popular book fair held in Besançon called Les Mots Doubs, after the name of the river that flows through the city, the river Doubs.
My poetry has been translated into French by Elizabeth Grech and published by the Fondation de Malte, under the direction of David Raphael Busuttil. The book, Ici arrivent les mouettes/Hawn Jidħol il-Gawwi, was launched during an evening held at the Museum of Migration in Valletta in November 2012.
I read my poems in Maltese and discussed the poems and writing literature with the students and the general public, while the actress Lauréline Romuald read the poems beautifully in French, an event in itself. The morning reading on Friday 20th September was held in the Collège Jean Jaurès de Saint Vit and in the afternoon at the Lycée Victor Hugo, both in Besançon. In the evening, the public reading was held at the Centre of Applied Linguistics.
I was invited to Besançon by the Maison de l’Europe en Franche-Comté with the support of the Représentation en France de la Commission européenne and Les Mots Doubs.
Maltese Language and Literature
This was another excellent opportunity to talk about Maltese language and literature. The audiences were fascinated by the sounds and rhythms of the poems in Maltese. I talked about the long history of the language and how it has adapted to the information age and has allowed us to produce a contemporary literary language that engages with a constantly changing world.
I also spoke about the dynamism of the third generation of Maltese writers, what I like to call the Cosmopolitan Generation of the late 20th and early 21st century, a generation of Maltese writers writing in Maltese, based in Malta and abroad (in places like Lyons, Luxembourg, London, Palestine, Canada) that addresses an audience that stretches far beyond the confines of the Maltese Islands.
One of the literature teachers in the Lycee Victor Hugo asked me why the language in my poem “Balkani,” inspired by the true story of a French secret agent, is so angry, even violent. It didn’t quite expect a question, or rather comment like that. My immediate answer was that the violence in the language of “Balkani” is nothing like the violence of the “real” world. However, I also framed my answer in a Maltese literature that has explored the more aggressive sides of language, and human nature.
Rencontre littéraire européenne
Vendredi 20 septembre 2013 à 18h30
au CLA, 6 rue Plançon (Salle Quemada)
A l’occasion des Mots Doubs 2013, la Maison de l’Europe en Franche-Comté, centre d’information Europe Direct, avec le soutien du Conseil général du Doubs et de la Représentation en France de la Commission européenne, invite deux auteurs européens à rencontrer des collégiens, des lycéens et le grand public. Soiree litteraire
Adrian Grima – publié par la Fondation de Malte.
Adrian Grima (Malta, 1968) est l’auteur de plusieurs recueils de poésies en maltais. It-Trumbettier a reçu le prix Premio Tivoli – Europa Giovani. En 2008, il a publié Rimin Nofsinhar avec Immanuel Mifsud. Ce livre, dont le thème principal est le changement climatique, a obtenu le Prix national pour le meilleur livre créatif délivré par le Conseil national du livre.
Adrian Grima enseigne actuellement la littérature maltaise à l’Université de Malte. Il coordonne par ailleurs les activités d’Inizjamed, un organisme culturel qui s’engage pour le développement artistique et intellectuel, notamment à travers la littérature (construction d’un autre méditerranée pour l’Europe et pour les pays de la Méditerranée, d’un espace d’échanges humaines et intellectuels libres, place du voyage, dialectique du dialogue, des conflits…).
De nombreuses poésies d’Adrian Grima ont été traduites en plusieurs langues.
Le livre Hawn Jidol il-Gawwi (Ici arrivent les mouettes) contient cinquante poèmes écrits sur une période de vingt ans. Certains ont été publiés dans le recueil traduit par une Française, Elizabeth Grech.
Unfortunately, Ivana Bodrožić was unable to travel to Besançon.
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adriangrima.org 