Ah!
Author: Immanuel Mifsud
Publisher: Klabb Kotba Malti / 2025
Pages: 128
This is the first time I am tackling Immanuel Mifsud and the prospect is quite daunting, considering the sheer bulk of his output.
He has been the foremost exponent of Maltese contemporary literature for these past 20 years or more not just in Malta but also abroad.
At one point he fell foul of the morality police and not even the Left sectors of the media supported him. He continued unperturbed switching from one medium to another.
To give an example of his prodigious output, here is a sample of his most known titles. Warning: the list is not exhaustive.
He has 44 books on Goodreads with almost 4,000 ratings. His most popular book is In the name of the Father (And of the Son) 2010.
Other books include Stejjer li ma kellhomx jinkitbu (2008), L-Aqwa Zmien, L-istejjer Strambi ta' Sarah Sue Sammut (2002), Kimika (2005), Fid-Dlam tal-Lejl Harisna, Rapoarte Confidentiale (2005), Happy Weekend (Maltese Literature in English) (2006), Madwar Saghtejn u Nofs 'Il Boghod mill-Genna, Stejjer ta' Nies Koroh (1991), Daqxejn ta' Requiem ghal Leli, Il-Ktieb tal-Mahbubin Midruba, The Play of Waves, Bateau Noir (2001), Hrejjef mis-Slovakkja (2011), Il-Ktieb tas-Sibt Filghaxija, Stejjer li Kibru fl-Art, Il-Ktieb tar-Rih u l-Fjuri (2001), Fid-Dar ta' Klara (1998), Riba, Hrejjef mir-Repubblika Ceka, Quando la notte apre gli occhi. E' ora di andare ..., Paramm, Paramm, ktieb ghall-bravi u l-imqarbin (2021), Grand Tour Europa (2022), Auguri, Giovanni Bonello!, Storja Tinkiteb, European Stories - EUPL winners write Europe (2018), Gharaq Xort'Ohra, Irish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing, Vol. 3 No.2 (2006), Il-Hrejjef ta' Barraminhaw', Beyond a Satin Sea. Stories from Malta, Hrejjef mill-Polonja, In Numele Tatalui (si al Fiului (Romansh edition), I faderens navn (Norwegian edition), Qabel il-Klabb, Ti ho visto piangere (Italian edition), Author Club Anthology, Gzejjer f'Kontinent.
While he was writing all this and more he was also interested in drama and research theatre.
In 2013 he translated Moliere's Don Juan for the first edition of the Valletta International Baroque Festival.
In 2014 he translated and adapted for stage Nicholas Montsarrat's The Kappillan of Malta, produced by Stagun Teatrali Malti for the Malta International Arts Festival.
In 2015 he wrote Faith, Hope u Charity for Stagun Teatrali Malti for the Malta International Arts Festival.
In 2016 he translated Anders Lustgarten's Lampedusa for Unifaun Theatre. In that same year he wrote that year's Qarcilla.
In 2023 he wrote Dik is-Sigra f'nofs ta' Triq, a play in verse for Theatre Anon and co-produced with Teatru Malta.
In 2011 he became the first Maltese writer to win the European Union Prize for Literature.
In 2014 he was appointed Member of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta.
He became the first Maltese writer to be hosted at the Library of Congress in Washington where on 16 February 2017 he gave a reading and was interviewed during a special event.
In that same year he was commissioned to write a poem for Commonwealth Day and he read the poem The Book during the Commonwealth Day celebration at Westminster Abbey on 13 March.
He was awarded a Doctorate in Literature by the University of Malta in 2012.
The book I am reviewing today is a slim one containing 10 short stories taken from an imaginary past of an anonymous author.
They range from an imaginary past around Russell Square to one centring around Place d'Italie in Paris.
The best one in my opinion mixes the people who came by boat and made land near Skorba (thus Mgarr) and today's noisy beachcombers in the same spot celebrating Malta's connectivity with the rest of Europe.
Other stories take us to Cagliari and Bratislava.