Trevor Zahra’s long-awaited new collection of stories for adults, Sepja, was launched recently by Merlin Library in the St James Cavalier’s theatre. Sepja is Zahra’s first collection for adults since the 2000 Provenz. A new Zahra title is always an event in itself, and as such there was great anticipation among fans for this new collection, that picks up from where Provenz left off. The St James theatre was recently the venue for a Maltese who’s who – the theatre was chock-a-block with an audience eager to get a sneak peek into this new work.

Sepja is essentially two collections in one. The first part is a set of tales written in the first person, that together go to form a saga of the author’s fictitious extended family. The photograph theme, with the nostalgic sepja tone permeating throughout, is brought back time and again, ideally linking the stories and guiding the reader through this extended family’s travails, with each tale opening further windows into the bizarre and unusual lives of this family.

In its second part, Sepja treats the reader to a sequence of extremely short stories, most of which Zahra likes to call “impressionist work” in that they suggest and hint, rather than define. Zahra’s inimitable fresh and vibrant style never fails to create a visually animated world, overflowing with imagery and magic.

During the launch evening, actors Marcelle Theuma (who directed the dramatisations) and Joseph Galea memorably brought to life two of Zahra’s stories in their inimitable style. In between performances, the audience was treated to an author-to-author conversation/interview between Gorg Peresso and Trevor Zahra, where the main themes of Sepja were discussed and given colour. Zahra was of course present after the evening’s performance, during refreshments, to sign copies of his new book.

Sepja is out now, and is available in hardback from all bookshops.