The Embassy of Malta to the Kingdom of Belgium held an event to mark the launch of the novel Iż-Żejt f'Qiegħ l-Ilma written by Martin Bugelli. Ray Azzopardi commended the ability of the author in connecting his personal experiences with Malta's historical events. He expressed appreciation towards Mr Bugelli for choosing the Embassy of Malta in Brussels to mark the launch of Iż-Żejt f'Qiegħ l-Ilma.

Pierre Mejlak, Maltese author and winner of the 2014 European Union Prize for Literature, explained that Mr Bugelli chose to write an expressive novel which is however comprehensible for readers, due to his ability of intertwining literature with Malta's historical events. Mr Mejlak said that the novel is split over two parts; the first part deals with a fictitious personality named Doris, while the second part focuses on the positive investigative traits of a young Maltese police inspector, who carefully sifts evidence in his quest for justice. 

Mr Bugelli reiterated that the novel came to fruition through an alchemy of various inputs from different people ‒ the publishers and other persons giving their opinion on detailed writing skills techniques, persons who lent their real name, others who took photos and designed the cover and others who worked on the editing of the novel prior to its publishing. Mr Bugelli also stressed that there were others, without them knowing and possibly also without himself knowing, who offered aspects of their personalities to the creation of characters in the course of the novel.

Mr Bugelli expressed his appreciation towards all the contributors and said that this novel was dedicated to his nephew Matthew, who lost his life in a tragic accident in February 2009.