AntoineCassar

1.

Biography

Antoine Cassar is arguably the most cosmopolitan of contemporary Maltese poets, having travelled far and wide. He spent his formative years in a boarding school abroad and continued his tertiary education in Spain. But in spite of his extensive travels, his disposition is firmly rooted in Maltese culture.

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One of Cassar’s distinctive traits is the use of the hendecasyllable, which has important echoes in the Maltese poetic landscape, most notably in the work of National Poet Dun Karm Psaila, who used it extensively to explore religious themes. The title of Cassar’s award-winning poetry book, Erbgħin Jum (Forty Days, EDE Books, 2017), in fact references a crucial episode in the Maltese religious calendar: the forty days and forty nights that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert, enacted symbolically every year in the course of the forty days of fasting before Easter. Cassar uses this chapter in Christ’s life to portray his own spiritual journey – a harrowingly candid look at a childhood spent alongside an abusive father, but one which ultimately proves to be a cathartic experience that invests him with agency and purpose.

In life and work, Cassar is a wanderer, an explorer, a bard, an emissary; but never a fugitive. It is no coincidence that his long poem Passaport (Passport, 2009; re-issued in 2019 with EDE) speaks of a world with no boundaries, one in which one’s legs and one’s spirit are free to roam. Freedom of movement and the migratory spirit take a tangible linguistic form in his anthology of sonnets written in Maltese, English, Italian and Spanish verse, published in 2008 as Mużajk: an exploration in multilingual verse (Edizzjonijiet Skarta). Once again, Cassar crosses boundaries and celebrates unobstructed mobility by moving between languages within the poems themselves. The complexity of meaning and the musicality of sound transcend the restrictions imposed by the vernacular of any of the particular languages.

Cassar also champions performance poetry and he has participated in numerous poetry festivals across the globe. The event held to launch Erbgħin Jum, in which he performed the book in almost its entirety accompanied by a live band, will definitely be remembered as a milestone in the Maltese literary scene.

Biography written by Noel Tanti

2.

Bibliography

Nannu at the kitchen table

Poetry
English
Author
Publisher
EDE Books, Malta

“fuq ħalla”, “fuq bidu”, “fuq welled”, “fuq kamra”, “fuq mewti”

in "A collection of Maltese young authors"
Poetry
Greek
Author
Translator
Antoine Cassar
Publisher
Bacchikon publications, Greece & The National Book Council, Malta

Troyano

Prose
Spanish
Author
Translator
Antoine Cassar
Publisher
Libros de Mentira, Chile

Erbgħin Jum

Forty days
Poetry
Maltese
Author
Awards
Winner of the Malta National Book Prize
Publisher
EDE Books, Malta
Related titles

Czterdzieści dni

Poetry
Polish
Author
Translator
Zuzanna Gawron
Publisher
Instytut Kultury Miejskiej, Poland

Għażla ta' poeżiji / Selection of poems

in “After September”
Poetry
Slovenian
Author
Translator
Andrej PleterskiAlbert Gatt
Editor
Immanuel Mifsud Peter Semolič
Publisher
Antologie Vilenice, Slovenia

"Jour 9"

Poetry
French
Author
Translator
Elizabeth Grech
Publisher
Poésie et Cinéma, Bacchanales n°56, Maison de la poésie Rhône Alpes, Saint Martin d'Hères, France

Kliemskjett

Plainspeak
Poetry
Maltese
Author
Translator
Antoine Cassar
Publisher
Kotba Calleja, Malta

“Fjouwer Rotsen” & “Amstel Hotel”

Poetry
Dutch
Author
Publisher
Ensafh, Netherlands

"Il-gżira fuq mappa"

in "Ex-Voto"
Various
Maltese
Author
Publisher
The Author, Heritage Malta & Arts Council Malta, Malta

Mappa tal-Mediterran

Map of the Mediterranean
Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Għaqda tal-Malti – Università, Malta

“Amsterdam Hotel” & “Four Rocks”

in "Transcript 38"
Poetry
English
Author
Publisher
Transcript, Wales

Sekonda qabel tqum

A second before waking
Poetry
Maltese
English
Author
Awards
Winner of the Malta National Book Prize
Translator
Mark Anthony FenechAlbert GattMaria Grech GanadoAntoine Cassar
Publisher
Edizzjoni Skarta, Malta

Nannu, Nanna

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
The Author

Bejn/Between

Poetry
Maltese
English
Author
Publisher
Edizzjoni Skarta, Malta

Merħba, a poem of hospitality

Poetry
Maltese
Multilingual
Author
Awards
United Planet Writing Prize
Publisher
The Author
Related titles

Merħba, un poème d'hospitalité

Poetry
French
Multilingual
Author
Translator
Carmen HerreraBarthelemy Gueret
Publisher
The Author

Merħba, un poema de hospitalidad

Poetry
Spanish
Multilingual
Author
Translator
Carmen HerreraAntoine Cassar
Publisher
The Author

Merħba, una poesia di ospitalità

Poetry
Italian
Multilingual
Author
Translator
Angelo PetrelliAntoine Cassar
Publisher
The Author

Merħba, a poem of hospitality

Poetry
English
Multilingual
Author
Translator
Antoine Cassar
Publisher
The Author

Passaport

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
The Author & EDE Books, Malta
Related titles

Pasporto

Poetry
Esperanto
Author
Translator
Klára Ertl
Publisher
Flandra Esperanto-Ligo, Belgium

Potni list

Poetry
Slovenian
Author
Translator
Peter SemoličVera Pejovič
Publisher
Sanje, Slovenia

Paspor

Poetry
Indonesian
Author
Translator
Fatmawati Indah Lestari Stuby
Publisher
The Author

Pass

Poetry
Luxembourgish
Author
Translator
Francis Kirps
Publisher
The Author

Pass

Poetry
German
Author
Translator
Francis Kirps
Publisher
The Author

пасош

Poetry
Macedonian
Author
Translator
Iva Georgieva
Publisher
The Author

Passaporto

Poetry
Italian
Author
Translator
Biagio LietiAntoine Cassar
Publisher
The Author

Pasaporte

Poetry
Spanish
Author
Translator
Carmen HerreraAntoine Cassar
Publisher
The Author

Passport

Poetry
English
Author
Translator
Albert GattAntoine Cassar
Publisher
The Author

Passeport

Poetry
French
Author
Translator
Elizabeth Grech
Publisher
Les éditions Faï fioc, France

Mużajk: an exploration in multilingual verse

Poetry
Maltese
English
Multilingual
Author
Publisher
Edizzjoni Skarta, Malta

Ħbula Stirati

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
The Authors
Supported by

Arts Council Malta

Creative Industries Platform

Project co-ordinator: Clare Azzopardi

With the help of: Kirsty Azzopardi, Leanne Ellul and Albert Gatt

Proofreader: Dwayne Ellul

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