Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
“Some of my work is available from Amazon, others from Horizons Publishers in Malta and Word and Deed Publishers in Burlington, Ontario, Canada”
Please share your thoughts about the future of literature. For me literature is an essential part of being human. Its future? I am not a fortune teller! But I am afraid that the ultra capitalist and individualist mentality of our present way of living, to me, does not augur well for a healthy future for literature. For example, it is getting even harder to sell poetry books, and publishers are feeling in the pinch. But there will always continue to be literary authors. Whether they will be appreciated is another story.
When did you start writing? I started writing poetry when I was 16 years old. My initial interest was in poetry and essays.
The Good and the Bad. Who is winning nowadays? It depends in which area of life? In general, however, I think we are on the verge of a new fascist period in the West. When I read authors like John Dewey and Bertrand Russell who wrote about the conditions in the West in the 1930s, unfortunately I see lots and lots of similarities to what is happening today. Unless you are part of the dominant conservative “culture” people are marginalised. Colonialism is still alive and strong! God help us.
How many books have you written and where can we find your books? I have written 11 academic books, 10 collections of poetry (some published in translations), 2 collections of short-stories, and a novel. Some of my work is available from Amazon, others from Horizons Publishers in Malta and Word and Deed Publishers in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
The book. E book or hardcopies book What will be the future? I think some people will still prefer hard copies of books. Given my weak eyesight, I prefer hard copies. But more and more people are used to reading on line. For me, as long as people read, that is fine.
A wish for 2025? True and lasting peace in the Middle East. The Palestinians do not deserve what they have been going through since 1948! And this wish does not mean I support Hamas.
A phrase from your book or a book you like? “The opposite of a civilised society is a creative one”. Albert Camus from his essay “Summer in Algiers”.
Recent and future publications? In 2024 I have edited a collection of poetry in Maltese on Gaza. And also I published a collection of poems with Ahmed Miqdad, a poet from Gaza. The profits from the sale of these two books have been donated to Gaza. I am now also editing a collection of poems in English by international poems on Gaza and Palestine. Again, the money from the sales of this collection will be donated to Gaza. The book will be published later this year by Horizons in Malta and Daraja Press in Quebec.
Bio: John P. Portelli is a Maltese-Canadian poet and fiction author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. Besides 11 academic books he has published 10 poetry collections, 2 collections of short stories, and a novel. His literary work has been translated into English, Italian, French, Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Romanian, and Spanish. His collection Here Was was short-listed for the 2024 Canadian Book Club Award. He lives between Malta and Toronto.
