The book is dead. That is what some would have us believe, at any rate. And looking at people waiting on bus-stops, drinking in cafés or sitting on promenade benches, you’d be forgiven for thinking that might be correct. The reign of the mobile phone is upon us and – like an alien invasion – it has captured our hands and, more dangerously, our minds. There seems to be no escape from the constant online chatter, poisonous Facebook barbs and deep divisions which are the fruit of this unholy marriage between technology and petty village behaviour. Or is there?

Tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday, the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival aims to give us some reprieve, with a good dose of music, food and great company at Fort Manoel on Manoel Island. Local and international wordsmiths will take to the stage, read their offerings and prompt discussion which goes beyond 280 characters. Short films based on Maltese poetry will also be premiered tonight and tomorrow night. The event has a history of attracting some of the region’s finest writers – such as Mourid Barghouti and Pulitzer-Prize winning Hisham Matar – and, this year, the Turkish novelist and columnist Aslı Erdoğan will be just one in the festival’s impressive line-up of guests. 

So, as we turn the page to this year’s event, we ask our local writers: which books have inspired you?

Immanuel Mifsud

Book(s): Ulysses by James Joyce; Studs Lonigan by James T Farrell: The short stories of Heinrich Böll

“I have to admit this is a very difficult question, almost impossible to single out a book which has influenced me. I can mention a few: Ulysses by James Joyce was a revelation which kept haunting me for a very long time. Studs Lonigan by James T Farrell was also an important book which helped me reflect on the anti-hero. But I cannot exclude the short stories of Heinrich Böll, either.”

Nadia Mifsud

Book: Virginia Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own

“Pinpointing one book is quite a feat. I remember wondering, back in secondary school, about the quasi-absence of women writers in Maltese literature. So, when I came across Virginia Woolf’s statement, “For most of history, Anonymous was a woman”, it obviously struck a chord. I then went on to read Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own, in which she asks: had Judith Shakespeare (Shakespeare’s sister) existed, could she have had a literary career, or would she have had to dedicate her time to housekeeping and childrearing? I’d say this book was crucial in helping me to understand how material and social circumstances sometimes bring about women’s silence.” 

Teodor Reljic

Book: Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy

“This is the hardest possible question for me to answer, but I'll give it a shot with painfully gritted teeth and tears in my eyes, because I know I will be betraying so many other texts that continue to be influential. But killing your darlings is an integral part of the writing process (that's what I'll tell myself here, anyway). And so, I'm going to go with a book that almost certainly leaves a number of darlings suspiciously un-killed. This is Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy - and I'll ask for this one other concession, that the three books in question be considered as one whole. 'Titus Groan', the first volume, is possibly my favourite out of the bunch, but the second volume - 'Gormenghast' - I think brings out the full range and power of Peake's gothic-comic opus. Peake's gorgeous, indulgent use of language and the interplay between the grotesque and the intimate that he manages with these books will always be an animating force for my writing. Dipping into them again always makes me feel as though nothing is out of bounds.”

Miriam Calleja

Book: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

“When asked by people attending my writing workshops which books I’d recommend as an aid in their writing, this book comes up often. It was gifted to me at a time when I was having strong doubts about whether I should be putting so much energy into writing. The Artist’s Way mainly gives you the tools to guard yourself against not only external but also internal negativity, and it focuses on doing the work because as an artist you are happiest when doing it. I prefer to open it on a random page and read pages that I might have marked earlier, forging a pathway for that moment. While the spiritual side of the book may sound a little New Age-ish, when it comes down to it you’re getting good, solid advice that has worked for many - these are things that most successful artists (in terms of quality of work) are doing anyway: write often, explore other artists’ work. I am asked very often what inspires me - other people’s art inspires me, it makes me feel connected and understood, sometimes it fills me with questions. Those are the feelings that I want to recreate in others with my words - those of being lost and found.”

Main image: Virginia Monteforte & Inizjamed