Since 2019, Arts Council Malta has annually participated in the event “Poems in the City” in collaboration with the Maltese Embassy in Poland and the EUNIC cluster in Warsaw. This year Maltese poet Norbert Bugeja represented Malta with his poem ‘Ritorn’. These poems are distributed in print throughout busy places in the city centre, such as buses and train stations.

NORBERT BUGEJA (1980) is one of Malta’s leading contemporary poets, he is a professor at the English Studies Department of the University of Malta and Head of the Mediterranean Institute there. His poems have been translated into many languages, including French and Arabic, and published in magazines and anthologies.

More information on all participating countries and poets may be accessed here:  Wiersze w mieście (wierszewmiescie.eu)

 

2023

This year’s theme is “Break” and poems from EU member states will be displayed in various locations across Warsaw- Metro Świętokrzyska, posters in the city centre as well as on social media in the original language and a translation in Polish.

This year Malta is represented by Ms Clare Azzopardi, an award-winning writer for both children and adults who is an active member of Inizjamed, an NGO whose mission is to promote literature in Malta and abroad. Polish translation done by Ms Zuzanna Gawron.

You may find more information at: https://www.wierszewmiescie.eu/wiersze/malta

 

Text in English (translation)

we share no other language you and I

except for Spring

do you remember Spring today

our fingers picking plaited leaves           the iris on our lips

I slide into your garments long along my skin

you sup the colour running off my tongue

my legs wayfaring to your side

a single moment when we’re tangled in the sound of a lone flower

fissuring a space     between my thighs

and the sound your face makes

will it still hold, the iris scent

when Spring gets old

 

 

2022

The theme chosen for this edition of ‘Poems in the City 2022’ was ‘Beginning’. The objective of the project is to enable poetry originating from European Union countries to be given wider exposure in public spaces in Warsaw. To this end, EUNIC collaborated with the local authorities in Warsaw to have poems, in their original language, displayed on trams and buses in Warsaw and screens at Metro Świętokrzyska between the 18th and 24th April and between in 09th and the 15th May 2022. For this edition of Poems in the City 2022, Malta was represented by Prof. Simone Galea, a Maltese poet and an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta, with a poem called “Inizjazzjoni”, translated to Polish by Ms Zuzanna Gawron.

 

 

 

 

2021
 
In the 2021 edition of "Poems in the city" poet Nadia Mifsud represents Malta with her work, which goes by the title 'qtar' (meaning 'drops'):
 

 Click here to read more.
 


2020

In 2020, the theme was 'Nature', and poems from all EU member states were  displayed on social media in the original language accompanied by a translation to Polish. Malta was represented by Antoine Cassar, a Maltese Poet whose work "Passport" has been published in twelve languages and adapted for theatre. In addition, his book-length poem 'Forty Days' - was shortlisted for the European Poet of Freedom. At 'Poems in the City' he presented '8 ħajki bla fruntieri' translated by Zuzanna Gawron.
 
 

 
2019
 
Throughout the month of April 2019, Maltese poet Glen Calleja, participated with his poem ‘Totalita’. During a final performance night which took place on Monday 8th April, Maltese poet Glen Calleja recited three of his poems in Maltese from his collection “Outstanding Truth,” which in many ways, are an attempt at documenting direct experiences of cancer in poetic form.
 
 
Read more here.