Emmanuel Abela,  a popular ‘għannej’ from Żejtun known among  folk singing circles as Il-fenka, accompanied by popular guitarists, will narrate excerpts from Dun Kixott Mill-Manċa (Don Quixote from Mancha), the Maltese translation of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote in poetic form by Pawlu Montebello during the National Book Festival.This event is expected to attract droves of għana lovers to the National Book Festival which this year will be held between 9-13 November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre

The activity is being organised by the Department of Spanish and Latin-American Studies (UOM) and the Embassy of Spain in Malta together with the National Book Council and SKS will be celebrating the 400th anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes’ death (1616). Prof. John Ardila, a specialist on Cervantes, will be the keynote speaker of this public presentation about Don Quixote and its relevance in current literature. The presentation will be held in English.

Pawlu Montebello (1905-2005) penned this translation in the early eighties of last century  and has been recently discovered in a private collection of the late journalist Anton Cassar. The Maltese publication is illustrated with Gustav Dore’s illustrtations in the 1860s of a French edition of Don Quixote.

The activity will be held on Sunday 13 November at 10am.