Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was presented with a copy of DUN KIXOTT MILL-MANĊA (Don Quixote from Mancha), Miguel de Cervantes’ picaresque novel which has been translated as a long poem in Maltese by Pawlu Montebello (1905-2006).

The volume, which  includes Gustave Dore’s sixteenth century illustrations which he designed for a French translation of Cervantes’ novel, was presented to the Prime Minister by Mrs Maria Cassar, widow of the late journalist Anton Cassar who had preserved the original manuscript of Montebello’s translation in his private archives.  Mrs Cassar was accompanied by her children Anna Maria and Joseph.

The Prime Minister  thanked SKS Publishers for publishing this literary masterpiece to coincide with the activities marking the 400 hundred years of Miguel de Cervantes’s death. The volume will be officially launched at a literary evening  organised by the Spanish Embassy in Malta at St James Cavalier on Friday 22 April at 6.30pm.  Dr Adrian Grima, a poet and University lecturer who was part of the editorial team, will introduce this verse rendering by Pawlu Montebello of Cervantes' masterpiece and read excerpts from the book.

The evening will include an exhibition on Cervantes and the screening of the film: “Don Quixote, Knight Errant” (2002) of Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.