Kampus Kotba - the eighth edition of the Campus Book Festival
date: 05/04/2022
Organised in collaboration with local publishers, University of Malta Departments and student organisations, the programme featured book presentations, guided library tours, thematic discussions and interviews with the participation of local and international writers and researchers.
Kampus Kotba focused on two EU Prize for Literature winners with a number of events dedicated to Lara Calleja and the Festival’s international guest Jan Carson. The Irish author of a number of major prize winning titles including The Fire Starters and her latest novel, The Raptures will be speaking about her literary works with the Maltese writer Leanne Ellul. Earlier Carson participated in a book club session with students from the UM English Department led by Prof. James Corby to discuss her short story collection The Last Resort.
On Thursday Carson joined fellow Maltese EUPL winner Lara Calleja to exchange their thoughts about the opportunities afforded by the Prize as well as their books in a discussion moderated by Robert Pisani. This session was of particular interest to all those who wanted to know more about the EUPL thanks to the participation of Joseph Lia, Head of the Creative Europe Office in Malta. The participation of Jan Carson at the Festival is a collaboration between the NBC and Creative Europe Desk Malta. Lara Calleja discussed her 2021 National Book Prize winning book Kissirtu Kullimkien in a book club session with students from the UM Department of Maltese moderated by Justine Sommerville.
Kampus Kotba's final day was on Friday 25 March when it hosted an Open Mic evening organised in collaboration with Inizjamed and the participation of special guest Lara Calleja.
This year Kampus Kotba offered a wider book selection on sale thanks to the participation of a record number of established publishers and booksellers. Also thanks to the continued participation of Malta’s leading prize winning publishers, Kampus Kotba was an unmissable opportunity for students and the general public to catch up with the latest publications, while also attending a discussion of interest from the Festival’s programme.
The Festival exhibitors were Faraxa Publishing, Horizons, Kite Group, Merlin Publishers, Klabb Kotba Maltin / Midsea Books, Marvellous Malta, Malta University Press, Mallia & D’Amato Booksellers, Inizjamed, Għaqda tal-Malti Università, Malta Libraries, and Creative Europe Desk Malta.
The 2022 Campus Book Festival events programme was organised in collaboration with Għaqda tal-Malti Università, DESA (Department of English Students’ Association), HoASA (the History of Art and Fine Arts Students’ Association), SPS (Students’ Philosophical Society), Studenti Graffitti, Department of Philosophy, the Department of Maltese, the Department of English, the De- partment of Translation, Terminology and Interpreting Studies, and the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Malta. For further information visit ktieb.org.mt.