ClaudiaGauci

1.

Biography

Born in 1976, poet, translator and teacher Claudia Gauci began writing poetry in her late teens, after her early efforts were met with encouragement from a couple of particularly inspiring teachers. Initial experiments in catharsis and adolescent self-reflection would gradually begin to give way to more refined explorations of love and death, and Gauci would publish her first collection of poetry, Sekonda Qabel Tqum, (A second before waking) in 2012.

Jump to bibliography

Published by Edizzjoni Skarta, Gauci’s debut collection self-confessedly contains the ‘soul’ of the young poet, who believes the collection to be a representative take on her 18 to 25-year-old psyche, with its latter half exploring a more ‘mature’ and sober trajectory of childhood reflection, relationships and mortality. The bilingual collection also stands as a testament to Gauci’s connection to the wider literary community that defines her and her work, containing as it does creative and translation-based collaborations with various local poets – the veteran Maria Grech Ganado being among them.

Prior to publishing Sekonda Qabel Tqum, Gauci has worked as a translator at the European Commission in Luxembourg as well as on a freelance basis. She currently teaches Maltese full-time at a private secondary school, while also teaching poetry criticism to sixth-form students on a part-time basis.

Gauci’s experience in translation would certainly have informed her latest large-scale project: the spearheading of the Poetry in Potato Bags initiative (2017), an international ‘poetry exchange’ through agricultural links between Malta and the Dutch-Frisian city of Leeuwarden, in collaboration with the literary NGO Inizjamed and Valletta 2018 – the entity then in charge of Malta’s capital city’s European Capital of Culture title for that year. Gauci was charged with translation and editing duties for the subsequent publication emerging from the project, Poetic Potatoes, which included poetry in Maltese, English and Dutch.

While working on a sophomore poetry collection, Gauci is also making her first foray into prose, which she claims will be an 'anthropological' view of her family. Eschewing the tag of memoir, Gauci aims to “shed light on what was common, hidden or taken for granted in a modest house where eight children grew up back in the 1940s and ’50s”.

Written by Teodor Reljić

2.

Bibliography

Orkubellu u l-ħtif ta’ Orkidea (2)

Prose
Maltese
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Fabrizio Di Baldo
Publisher
Merlin Publishers

Orkubellu (1)

Prose
Maltese
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Fabrizio Di Baldo
Publisher
Merlin Publishers

Max-Xatt tat-Tamarisk

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Editor
Glen Calleja
Publisher
Kotba Calleja
Related titles

"Shall we rest a bit before we catch the last ferry back?"

Poetry
English
Author
Translator
Albert Gatt
Editor
Khairani Barokka
Publisher
Modern Poetry in Translation

Kelb jismu Wuff

A Dog Called Woof
Picture book
Maltese
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Romont Willy
Publisher
Merlin Publishers, Malta

L-Annimali ta’ Danny

Picture book
Maltese
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Alexandra Colombo
Publisher
Merlin Publishers, Malta

Ir-Regoli ta’ Danny

Picture book
Maltese
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Alexandra Colombo
Publisher
Merlin Publishers, Malta

Il-Problemi ta’ Danny

Picture book
Maltese
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Alexandra Colombo
Publisher
Merlin Publishers, Malta

Poetic Potatoes – Poetry in Potato Bags

Various
Maltese
Dutch
English
Editor
Claudia Gauci
Publisher
Inizjamed, Valletta 2018 & Leeuwarden 2018, Malta & Netherlands

Magni taż-Żmien

Picture book
Maltese
Author
Awards
Winner of the Malta National Book Prize
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Illustrator
Romont Willy
Publisher
Merlin Publishers, Malta

Din mhix tazza

This is not a glass
Prose
Maltese
English
Author
Translator
Claudia Gauci
Editor
Clare AzzopardiNathalie GrimaSara Falconi
Publisher
The Authors & Arts Council Malta, Malta

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
Related titles

Għażla ta' poeżiji / Selection of poems

in “After September”
Poetry
Slovenian
Author
Translator
Ana PepelnikAlbert GattMaria Grech Ganado Antoine Cassar
Editor
Immanuel MifsudPeter Semolič
Publisher
Antologie Vilenice, Slovenia
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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