What inspired you to write this novel?

Around three years ago I had two friends who, in very different ways, changed the way I understood power, politics, space and care. I wanted to write about the ways these friendships formed in that particular space and time, to try and make sense of them and to share stories from communities who I feel have a lot to say about the world we live in. 

Your choices of the temporal and physical settings in which the novel unfolds are interesting. What prompted you to set 'It-Togħma Morra taċ-Ċiċri' in the Ħamrun/Marsa area during the Covid lockdown period?

I set the novel during the year (2020-2021) before I began writing it, in a sense as a way of documenting that year, since the social dynamics and events that I experienced made sense during the political climate and atmosphere of that moment. I was living in Pietà at the time, and walking often around Ħamrun and Marsa, experiencing the particular ways of life that flourished in the in-between spaces between the two towns. The friendships I made here only made sense because they were created in these spaces. The atmosphere of Ħamrun itself has always felt essential to me, something I learn every time I go for a walk, and I find it vital to document the ways of thinking and living practised in this space.

Music, cooking and friendship play central roles in 'It-Togħma Morra taċ-Ċiċri'. What do these themes mean for you personally?

These are three of the most important things in my life, so it was inevitable for them to make their way into my writing. I believe in all three as powerful tools for making connections, creating communities and coming together joyfully, where sharing joy becomes a productive resistance to oppression.

Why do you think the act of sharing food, as shown in the novel, can have such an impact on relationships and identity?

For me, sharing food is a creative act within a long, unwritten, embodied tradition that creates community and sparks conversations through care. I've learned so much about love, community, power and politics through sharing food and recipes with friends.

Queer literature often explores themes of self-discovery, acceptance and community. How did you weave these themes into the story, and why do you think they resonate so strongly in the pandemic setting?

For me, being queer is about figuring out how to make your way around a straight society while constantly trying (and most of the time failing) to subvert it by laughing at its absurdities. And the pandemic was a moment when the absurdities of the power relations we've created came to the fore, which also, in some spaces, allowed for a certain kind of freedom and improvisation. But what I remember experiencing at the time is both an intense sense of community, through deep, intimate friendships, and at the same time, a sense of being unable to communicate, of being unable to really transgress class boundaries. 

In the novel, Eli's character is referred to using alternating pronouns. Could you share your approach to portraying a non-binary character in this way, and what you hope to express about gender fluidity and identity through Eli?

A lot of Eli's thoughts about their gender reflect my own at the time. Now that three years have passed since I wrote the first draft, I'm finding it interesting to look back at how my own perceptions of gender have changed since then. So in many ways I can only really speak for myself in my approach to portraying Eli. I enjoy writing that a reader can get lost in, and wanted to allow the reader to see through Eli's gender and realise that in their case, pronouns are largely irrelevant. I hope that by the end of the novel, the reader won't even notice which pronouns are being used. I wanted to loosen the constraints around language to try to delve deeper into the meanings of gender fluidity in society, so I wanted to experiment with fluid language in my writing while experimenting with gender in my living (now it's up to the reader to judge whether this works or not!).

What did you find most challenging about writing 'It-Togħma Morra taċ-Ċiċri'?

I was writing it a little too close to the events that inspired it - so for quite a while I struggled to put enough distance between my feelings and those of my characters, to allow the characters to grow their own selves. The other challenge was the structure - I based it on an actual year of my life, with all its chaos and lack of structure, and wanted to reflect the pace of life in this work. At the same time, I wanted it to be readable. This was one of the many interesting conversations with Leanne Ellul, during the editing process, where we worked to find the right balance between capturing this realism of everyday life and crafting an engaging and satisfying narrative.

Your prose has been described as cinematic - how do you achieve such a sensory, almost visual style in your writing?

I'm inspired by writing that allows you to feel as if you're in the room with the characters, smelling, hearing and being present in its atmosphere. The work of George Eliot, Emile Zola, Harriette Arnow and Caleb Azumah Nelson was very inspiring in finding the balance between describing details and giving quick impressions of atmospheres. I take notes while walking, but then try and allow the imperfect memories of an atmosphere to bring the words out on their own, through the rhythm and shape of sentences as well as through the images that emerge.

What would you like readers to take away from the book?

What Ħamrun smells like. 

After 'It-Togħma Morra taċ-Ċiċri', what's next for you? Do you have any exciting projects in the works?

For now, more music and theatre and things in between.