NorbertBugeja

1.

Biography

Norbert Bugeja, born in 1980, is a poet and lecturer whose research interests are strongly tied with postcolonial literary studies, and whose poetry explores the layered, and often sensual, parameters of space and place across borders.

Jump to bibliography

And though it populates only a comparatively slim set of volumes as of yet, Bugeja’s poetry has already secured him a place among the most notable figures of contemporary Maltese literature. Having established himself as one of “the Inizjamed set” of poets and writers to emerge from that tight-knit and influential literary NGO, and making his publishing debut with Stay, Fairy Tale, Stay! in 2005 – which formed part of a series of books by emerging local poets – Bugeja staked his strongest early claim on the scene with his first bona fide collection of poems, Bliet (Cities, 2009).

True to the simple but compactly rich implications of its title, Bliet endeavours to tuck into and deconstruct the rich panoply of the city as a living and ever-mutable concept, drawing from personal impressions but reaching for enduring observations and images, with a global scope but also an undeniable magnetic pull towards the Mediterranean miasma. In a conversation with fellow poet and Inizjamed member Kit Azzopardi, Bugeja observed how the Maltese poet is burdened with the opposite problem to their counterparts in countries with more long-lasting literary cultures: without all that many precedents to latch onto, the Maltese poet is a nomadic figure. Such rootlessness certainly finds eager expression in Bugeja’s subsequent collections – South of the Kasbah (Midsea Books, 2015) and Nartiċi (Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2016), which once again take in a broad geographical sweep of cities and places, in a move that veteran fellow poets associate with both a ‘mindful’ sense of pleasure-seeking and a fluid but slyly knowing questing nature. Immanuel Mifsud describes Bugeja’s approach in Nartiċi as that of a traveller visiting – and laying with – an old lover he revisits periodically from abroad: “Here is a traveller who knows what he wants and where to find it … it is essentially hedonistic poetry, where even melancholy becomes pleasurable – is likely the strongest pleasure of all.” The roving poetic narrator of Nartiċi – whose individual poems are, in fact, described as one single kaleidoscopic work by Antoine Cassar – ends up crafting works which, according to Maria Grech Ganado, evoke “the poetical harmony of a symphony”.

Having worked as a translator in Brussels in the early 2000s, Bugeja co-ordinates the MA (Research) in Mediterranean Studies, convenes the Mediterranean Institute Seminar, and is a member of the Board of the Mediterranean Institute. He is also the General Editor of the Journal of Mediterranean Studies.

Written by Teodor Reljić

2.

Bibliography

"Memento Mori"

Poetry
English
Author
Editor
Khairani Barokka
Publisher
Modern Poetry in Translation

Oublie qu'elle n'est pas là

Poetry
French
Author
Translator
Irene Mangion
Publisher
les presses du réel, France

Insa li Mhijiex Hawn

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

“Ledra”

in "Nicosia Beyond Barriers: Voices from a Divided City"
Poetry
English
Author
Editor
Alev AdilAydin Mehmet AliBahriye KemalMaria Petrides
Publisher
Saqi Books, Cyprus

Għażla ta' poeżiji / Selection of poems

in “After September”
Poetry
Slovenian
Author
Translator
Ana PepelnikIrene Mangion
Editor
Immanuel MifsudPeter Semolič
Publisher
Antologie Vilenice, Slovenia

"De sinne sakket op it Andalusyske wetter"

"The Sun is Setting Upon Andalusian Waters"
Poetry
Dutch
Author
Publisher
Ensafh, Netherlands

Nartiċi

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

South of the Kasbah

Poetry
English
Author
Translator
Irene Mangion
Publisher
Midsea Books, Malta

South of the Kasbah

Poetry
English
Author
Publisher
Midsea Books, Malta

“Notes on Jimbaran Bay” & “Poetry”

in “Poetry New Zealand 44”
Poetry
English
Author
Editor
Siobhan Harvey
Publisher
Poetry New Zealand, New Zealand

“A Lesson” & “The Sun is Setting Upon Andalusian Waters”

in “Transcript 38”
Poetry
English
Author
Translator
Mark-Anthony Bugeja
Publisher
Transcript, Wales

Bliet

Poetry
Maltese
Author
Awards
Winner of the Malta National Book Prize
Publisher
Edizzjonijiet Emma Delezio, Malta

Photos of the City

in “Shared Waters – Soundings in Postcolonial Literatures”
Poetry
English
Author
Editor
Stella Borg Barthet
Publisher
Brill – Cross/Cultures 118, Netherlands & USA

Stay, Fairy Tale, Stay! Memoirs of a City Cast Adrift

Poetry
English
Author
Translator
Maria Grech Ganado
Publisher
Inizjamed & Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta
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

Manage cookie preferences