Nadia Mifsud
Maltese-French poet, novelist, and translator
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Nadia Mifsud (born 1976) is a Maltese poet, novelist and trilingual literary translator living in France. She is Malta's third poet laureate.
Career
Mifsud has written in both Maltese and French.[1] She has cited French poets Apollinaire, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud as influences.[2] She has written on the classic themes of "love and death," as well as women's experiences, "such as mother-daughter relationships and the changes a woman’s body goes through".[2] She has also explored the experience of living abroad, "such as the notion of distance and the feeling of estrangement and homesickness".[2]
She published her first book of poetry, żugraga, in late 2009.[3] The poems in her first book were "short, direct texts" which "[experimented] with typography".[2] By 2016, her poetry had, in her own words, "grown longer and, structurally speaking, more complex," and been translated into English, French, Spanish, Slovenian and Turkish.[2]
In 2017, she published her first and, to date, only novel, Ir-rota daret dawra (kważi) sħiħa.[1] The novel is influenced by conversations she had with a friend, who was dying of cancer while Mifsud was writing the book.[1]
In 2011, she began volunteering with Inizjamed, an association she retained until at least 2023.[4]
In 2022, Mifsud was named Poet laureate of Malta.[3]
Personal life
Mifsud was born in Bormla.[5] As a child, Mifsud's mother encouraged her reading, often rewarding her good behavior with books. She began writing as a child, and wrote poetry in elementary school.[1]
Mifsud left Malta in 1998, when she was 22, and moved to France.[5][6]
Mifsud married in 2002, but separated from her husband less than a year later.[6]
Publications
Poetry
Own collections
- variaciones del silencio (2023, Festival de Los Confines, Honduras — translation by Antoine Cassar of varjazzjonijiet tas-skiet)
- meta tinfetaq il-folla. Ede Books. 2022.
- varjazzjonijiet tas-skiet. Ede Books. 2021.[5]
- kantuniera 'l bogħod. Edizzjoni Skarta. 2015.[1]
- żugraga. 2009.[1]
Anthologies
- "Call the Sea a Poet: Focus on Malta". Modern Poetry in Translation (2). 2023.[5]
- Leħen il-Malti (various editions, L-Għaqda tal-Malti - Università)
- tgħanniq ieħor. Horizons. 2021.
- Courage ! Dix variations sur le courage et un chant de résistance (in French). Éditions Bruno Doucey. 2020.
- Poetic Potatoes (2018, Inizjamed, Valletta 2018, Leeuwarden 2018)[7]
- Voix Vives - Anthologie Sète (2018, Éditions Bruno Doucey)[8]
Online journals and collections
- Altazor - Revista electrónica de literatura (February 2024 — translations by Antoine Cassar, curated by Khedija Gadhoum)[9]
- Fragment (11 November 2019 — translations by Antoine Cassar, Albert Gatt, and Nadia Mifsud)[10]
Prose
Short stories
- żifna f'xifer irdum. Merlin Publishers. 2021.[5]
Novel
- Ir-rota daret dawra (kważi) sħiħa. Merlin Publishers. 2017.[1]
Anthologies
- Scintillas - New Maltese Writing 2. Praspar Press. 2022.
- Leħen il-Malti (various editions, L-Għaqda tal-Malti - Università)
Online journals and collections
- Culture 360 - ASEF, Made in Bangladesh (19 August 2023)[11]
Translations
Poetry
- xtaqt li kont merkurju. Inizjamed. 2022.
- transkrit:08 (2016, Kulturfabrik)[12]
- Voix Vives - Anthologie Sète. Éditions Bruno Doucey. 2012.
- Għaraq Xort'Oħra. Inizjamed. 2012.
- Bateau Noir (2011, Edizzjonijiet Emma Delezio)[13]
Prose
- Le Grand Tour - Autoportrait de l'Europe par ses écrivains (in French). Grasset. 2022.
- Mifsud, Immanuel (2016). Je t'ai vu pleurer (in French). Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-253328-0.
Interviews
- Dans tes oreilles (2 April 2020, by Maïté Cussey, Margot Espinasse and Marion Feugère)[14]
- Il faut pouvoir dire les choses (12/13 March 2016 by Thierry Hick)[15]
- The Faraway Nearby - Nadia Mifsud (15 September 2015, by Teodor Reljic)[16]
- Would you like a book with your coffee? (20 October 2009, by Stephanie Fsadni)[17]
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Merlin Publishers' #abbozz Competition | Won | [18] | ||
| 2016 | National Book Prize | Poetry | kantuniera 'l bogħod | Won | [19] |
| 2017 | Amante Buontempo National Poetry Contest | 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes | [20] | ||
| 2018 | Amante Buontempo National Poetry Contest | Won | [21] | ||
| National Book Prize | Prose | Ir-rota daret dawra (kważi) sħiħa | Finalist | [22] | |
| 2019 | Doreen Micallef National Poetry Contest | Won | [23] | ||
| 2022 | National Book Prize | Prose | varjazzjonijiet tas-skiet) | Won | [24] |
| żifna fuq xifer irdum | Finalist | [25] |