Work on the printing of MINTOFF: il-bniedem u l-Istorja (MINTOFF: the man and history) has started at Gutenberg Press, Tarxien and next week the 608-page book will be available to the thousands who have booked their copy on a pre-publication  basis.

PL president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi and Yana Bland Mintoff, Mr Mintoff’s daughter and one of 29 contributors to the volume, accompanied by Mario Cutajar, editor of  the book, yesterday toured Gutenberg Press in Tarxien where the book is being printed.  Gunterberg director Frank Spiteri said it was an honour for his company to print this  prestigious volume on Malta’s political giant.

MINTOFF is a publication  by SKS (Sensiela Kotba Socjalisti), the editorial house of the Labour Party with the intention to initiate a discussion on who Mintoff was, on how he may be understood from the perspective of different academic and intellectual disciplines, and on what relevance he might have for current and future generations of Maltese. The objective of the volume is  to offer readers the possibility of moving beyond partisan viewpoints and perceptions, and begin to look upon Mr Mintoff’s personality and figure in a manner which will be as objective as possible.

The official launch of the book will be held at 11am next Wednesday in the presence of the contributors who had been working on this publication for the past five years.