Miriam Galea speaks to PIERRE J. MEJLAK, author of ‘Rih Isfel’,

a new book in Maltese about a small village in which nothing ever happens.

Pierre J. Mejlak is a young Gozitan writer who has been active in the literary scene since he was very young. At 14, he wrote his first book, Trab Abjad. Subtitled “a children’s adventure”, the novel tells the story of a bunch of kids who stumble upon a boxful of heroin satchets. Mejlak now lives in Brussels where he works as a translator, yet still reminisces the golden days of his adolescence spent in Gozo. His new book Rih Isfel comes with an innovative trailer shown on YouTube, in which a cheeky voice narrates a cocky synopsis echoing the hip and punchy writing style that recently characterised a good number of contemporary Maltese authors, such as Immanuel Mifsud revealing the grittier reality of living in Malta and Guzè Stagno proclaiming himself the King of Pop. The latter gives Rih Isfel his stamp of approval, declaring it “a cool novel”. It is refreshing to see Maltese literature identifying an authentic aspect of our national character. On the other hand, this “Maltese beat” may feel slightly forced and constructed. Rih Isfel, however, might be a fresher and more idiosyncratic variation of this locally popular style.

How would you describe your new book Rih Isfel? How would it look like if it were a person?

Rih Isfel is a novel in which I describe life in a quiet village where nothing ever happens. It’s the kind of village in which things never seem to change and people always end up talking about the same things. I wanted to illustrate a rural environment similar to that which I grew up in.

Although I use a lot of characters and situations, for me the village itself is a principal character. This is a novel that should appeal to readers with different tastes. It is somewhat of a thriller – since an 11-year-old boy disappears from the village – and also features the excitement of youth as in the novel a teenager is dating a girl for the first time.

If the book were a person, I think it would look like me!

What inspired you to write Rih Isfel?

My childhood and my youth in Gozo. The people I used to spend a lot of time with, as well as stories I heard and things I read.

What is writing to you?

Writing is one of the things that gives me most pleasure. It is a way through which I create a world in which I feel most at ease.

What usually inspires you to write?

Everything inspires me. People I meet, music, places I visit, films, people in the street…

You have been living in Brussels for the past three years, yet your writing still features Maltese (Gozitan) subject matter. How has living in a foreign country affected your relationship with your homeland?

Malta is a part of me. And I carry it around. To forget your country would mean to forget yourself. So it is natural that my homeland features so much in my work. If my stories are not set in Malta, then I would still use expressions and metaphors which are Maltese. After all, I don’t know any other environment better than I know the Maltese environment. Living in a foreign country puts your homeland into context.

Your book was praised by Guzè Stagno, Maltese pop prose sensation. Is Rih Isfel and your writing style an attempt to

render the Maltese lan-

guage more punchy and

contemporary?

No. I don’t write in any attempt to change anything in particular. If this is the end result, I don’t mind at all. However, I don’t do it consciously. My only aim is to write things I would really enjoy reading myself.

Do you have any favourite authors?

There are a lot of writers whom I love to read, their styles varying greatly, ranging from Garcia Marquez to Murakami, from Dickens to Joanne Harris, from Luca Bianchini to Nicolo Ammaniti, from Alessandro Baricco to Trevor Zahra…

Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote?

I think it was Gita Malta written in pencil on a copybook, way back when I still hadn’t

discovered the existence of punctuation marks.

How did you get into writing?

Same as reading, writing came very naturally to me. I always loved to write, however I started taking it seriously (that is, writing everyday) when I started issuing Il-Fwieha tan-Narcisa, a monthly magazine which went on for five years – 60 issues. The magazine started in the form of four pages which I used to photocopy and distribute among family and friends. It then increased to 30 pages, printed in colour and read by a few hundred people. I decided to stop it when it was time for fresher projects.

Do you believe books written in the Maltese language stand any chance of ever making it big?

I don’t see why not, if they are available in other languages and marketed properly.

You have mostly written children’s books, and even this book is addressed towards young adults. How come?

My first two books, Trab Abjad and Meta Nstabu l-Angli, are for children and I couldn’t have possibly written them for any other audience, since I was a boy myself. Then there was a pause during which I adapted two books which did well both critically and commercially – Stejjer mill-Bibbja and Enciklopedija ghat-Tfal.

Rih Isfel is not for children. In it I wanted to say things that I didn’t think would be interesting for kids. I wanted to talk about a village as I know it, so I addressed it towards adolescent readers, although I hope it will be well received even by older readers.

What do you like doing apart from writing?

I like to do things that 24-year-olds like to do. Most of all, I love reading and travelling.

You also work as a translator. How do you find this job, considering you are a creative person who usually uses language imaginatively?

The work of a translator helps you refine the knowledge of your own language. It requires you to regularly consult a dictionary, learn new words and use the language. It’s not the most creative job but it helps to become more familiar with your language.

You also seem to be very much into music…

I listen to music almost all day and find it difficult to write without music in the background. Silence makes me uncomfortable. There is also music which puts me in the mood to write. Bands like Radiohead, Myslovitz, REM and Portishead inspire me a lot.

What is your view of the Maltese islands?

I lived in Malta for 21 years and had everything I wanted. I love Gozo in a special way and I’ll always consider it as my home. I used to feel so attached to Gozo that while I was at University I used to travel to Gozo every day and as soon as I would step in Imgarr I would feel like I had just begun a brand new day. However, I wanted to try out a different life, which is perhaps more unpredictable and which allows you to be a bit more anonymous. I found most of what I was looking for in central Europe. Obviously, now I appreciate Gozo’s natural beauty more and there are moments when I miss my island – especially the climate, the sea and the laid back atmosphere that is not easily found in central Europe. When you look at your country from a distance, you see it better.