'Meta Ġej?'
Author: Iris Wolff
Translated by Alfred Scalpello
Publisher: Horizons Publications / 2025
Pages: 208

The author of this book, Iris Wolff, was born in Sibiu, a city in the Transylvania region of what was then the Socialist Republic of Romania, in July 1977.

She is the daughter of a pastor and was raised in Sibiu and in Semlac in Arad County.

In 1985, she emigrated with her family to Germany and graduated from secondary school in Stuttgart. Later on, she studied German studies and literature, religious studies as well as graphic arts and painting at the University of Marburg.

From 2003 to 2013 she worked at the German Literature Archive in Marbach and was a lecturer in art education. From November 2013 to March 2018, she was the coordinator of the Network Kulturelle Bildung in  Freiburg. Since 2018, she has worked as a freelance writer.

She lives with her family in Freiburg im Breisgau.

In 2012, she published her debut novel Halber Stein (Half a stone), followed by Die Unscharfe der Welt (The Blurriness of the World) in 2020.

The novel being reviewed today, Lichtungen (Clearings, 2024) is a love story told backwards about a boy and a girl, Lev and Kato, who live in a small Romanian village After the end of the Warsaw Pact, Kato's and Lev's paths diverge after Kato is forced to leave her homeland. She subsequently travels through Europe as s street painter, keeping in touch with Lev

by sending him self-drawn postcards. Lev has been left behind, working in a sawmill in his hometown.

The turning point in their relationship occurs when Lev receives a postcard asking "When are you coming?" leading him to visit Kato and travel with her for a while.

The novel sheds light on the complicated dynamics of a  relationship against the background of a changing Europe and Romanian history.

The novel reached number 2 of the Spiegel bestseller list in February 2024 and was on the shortlist for the German Book Prize in 2024.

The book has been translated into Maltese by Alfred Scalpello. It must have been one of the earliest translations of Wolff's original.

Mr Scalpello is now semi-retired and teaches translation of German, English and Maltese to students at the University. He also offers freelance translation and interpretation services in these three languages.

He is currently translating German into Maltese for the International Court of Justice and his second Charlotte Link thriller 'Die Suche'.