If you're interested in language:

Wednesday 7 February from 7pm: Talk: Variation in Language – Malta Café Scientifique – Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta

If you’re interested in the complexities and wonder that is language in Malta, you shouldn’t miss this talk. Dr Sarah Grech will explore, with the audience, one or two features of Maltese English which can better illustrate just how deeply entwined the Maltese language is within society. Together, they will also consider when and how it might be useful to think of refining or shaping the available languages. For more information, please visit the website for Spazju Kreattiv.

For cinema lovers:

Wednesday 7 February from 7:30pm: Film Screening: Food evolution – Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta

In this film screening of Food Evolution by Academy Award-nominated director Scott Hamilton Kennedy, the controversy surrounding GMOs and food is explored. Travelling from Hawaiian papaya groves to banana farms in Uganda and the cornfields of Iowa, the film, narrated by esteemed science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson, wrestles with the emotions and the science driving one of the most heated arguments of our time. In the GMO debate, both pro and anti-camps claim science is on their side. Who’s right? For more information, please visit the website for Spazju Kreattiv.

Thursday 8 February from 7:30pm: Film Screening: Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Endless Poetry– Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta

If you missed it the first time, Spazju Kreattiv is screening Alejandro Jodorowsky’s film Endless Poetry, his latest surreal masterpiece. In 1940 Santiago, Chile, we meet a 20-year-old Alejandrito Jodorowsky, who is about to endure a baptism of fire on the altar of Art. The young artist’s father will do anything to curb his son’s love affair with poetry, but the poet’s path is in Jodorowsky’s blood. Here, the poet’s vision is given sensual force in a series of kaleidoscopic, picaresque episodes that colour the cult filmmaker’s biography with a sense of freedom and authenticity. For more information, visit the website of Spazju Kreattiv. 

It's Carnival time:

From Thusday 8 February (opening ceremony); evening activities also taking place on Friday 9 February: Carnival – Valletta, Malta & Nadur, Gozo

Kick off your Carnival weekend by heading down to St George’s Square in Valletta this Thursday. The programme starts at 6pm with the opening ceremony followed by competitive dancing by Companies C and D and a Costume Parade. On Friday night, festivities also take place from 6pm with competitive dancing by Companies A and B, followed by a small defilé featuring the King Carnival Float, grotesque masks, satirical floats and Category A floats. For more information, and the full programme of events, visit the Valletta 2018 website.

From Friday 9 February: Nadur’s Spontaneous Carnival – Nadur, Gozo

If you want a touch of the wacky and grotesque, make your way to Gozo for their legendary Nadur Spontaneous carnival, which kicks off at 7pm Friday night. Sunset invites a multitude of masked and hooded creatures to throng the streets of Nadur – creatures wearing all kinds of funny and grotesque costumes. Unmissable.

If you love music:

Friday 9 February from 8pm: Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Concert ‘Carmen Fantasy’ – Teatru Manoel, Valletta

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra have a reputation for spectacular events and this is no different, featuring music from Stuart Sankey’s Carmen Fantasy. Sankey, the 20th century American double bass pedagogue dedicated his career to expanding the instrument’s repertoire and his Carmen Fantasy, inspired by Bizet’s famous opera, will be the centrepiece of this Malta Philharmonic Orchestra concert. Directed by the MPO’s resident conductor Michael Laus and taking place at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta, the concert also features a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye. For more information, visit the website of the Teatru Manoel  or the Malta Orchestra site.