Writer, actress and theatre director Simone Spiteri recently led two creative writing workshops with students attending the Marsascala and Żebbuġ Skolasajf centres. The sessions aimed to introduce young minds to the world of literature and creative writing, offering a glimpse into the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival.
Bringing the festival beyond its usual setting, Inizjamed regularly reaches out to new audiences. This isn’t the first time the NGO has delivered engaging workshops for young people around Malta and Gozo, guided by writers from both home and abroad.
This year’s workshops focused on character creation and writing for the stage. Spiteri guided participants through the process of developing an imaginary character by first identifying key traits − such as the character’s name, age, fears, joys, sources of anger, sadness and disgust.
Once the students had shaped their characters, they were invited to write a monologue in which their character reveals a personal secret. The next step involved collaboration: in pairs or small groups, the students brought their characters together and wrote dialogues built around a central conflict. To conclude the exercise, participants had the chance to perform their short scenes, bringing their characters to life through drama.
Inizjamed would like to thank the Foundation for Educational Services and the coordinators of the Marsascala and Żebbuġ Skolasajf centres.
About Simone Spiteri
Simone Spiteri is among the seven writers invited to participate in the 20th edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival. Her background is in film and theatre. She holds a BA and MA in Theatre Studies from the University of Malta and is the founder of her own theatre company Dù, in which she writes, directs and performs. Her work has been across Europe, North Africa and the US.
Spiteri is a two-time winner of the National Francis Ebejer contest for playwriting, and her plays Appuntamenti and Lacuna were selected among the top 120 European plays by the European Theatre Convention.
She has also contributed extensively to the ŻiguŻajg International Children’s Festival, worked with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra on youth projects and translated major works by Pinter, Ibsen and Harrower into Maltese.
In 2020, her book Żewġ Drammi: Appuntamenti/Repubblika Immakulata won the National Book Prize. She lectures part-time at the University of Malta.
The 20th Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival
The 20th Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival is taking place until August 30 across multiple venues: Spazju Kreattiv, Vincent’s Eco Farm, the Malta Society of Arts, Café Riche and Teatru Salesjan.
This year’s festival features seven writers from six countries − Maltese playwright Simone Spiteri, Italo-Somali novelist Ubah Ali Farah, Spanish poet Carmen Camacho, Maltese essayist Omar N’Shea, British writer Kassia St Clair, Belgian poet Maud Vanhauwaert and Maltese poet Michael Zammit.
Readings will be mostly in Maltese and English, with some works presented in their original languages.
The festival also includes live music performed by Kym Pepe, Jimmy Bartolo and Franco Tartaglia.
A bookstall at each event will offer works by the featured authors and related publications.
