The chairman of the National Book Council: a 25-year-old rabid Mintoffian (yes, it’s possible)
Most of us missed this one. The National Book Fair has been elbowed out of its annual November slot at the Mediterranean Conference Centre to make way for the 2013 version of Wardakanta.
The new chair of the National Book Council is none other than Mark Camilleri, he of the Realta’ censorship fame. I supported him during his police investigation then, but there is no way I would approve of his being made chairman of anything, still less anything to do with books.
His television appearances back then shocked me with the discovery that he is inarticulate in two languages, not quite the best requirement for somebody editing a university newspaper.
Camilleri is 25, has no experience whatsoever in publishing beyond that university publication, and can barely make himself understood.
How unfortunate.
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So, what fate awaits the Book Fair now, I wonder?
Narmawa bis-sold/xelin,,,
Joseph Muscat take note….li tkisser sewwi
Remember that the writer of that piece was Alex Vella Gera.
Mark Camilleri was only the editor of Realta’, the newspaper/pamphlet that published it.
As if anything surprises us any more. We’re getting numb to such obscenities now.
Probably that was part of the roadmap: bringing us to the point of disbelief.
I really thought that Wardakanta repeat stuff was a joke.
Didn’t Evarist Bartolo very grandly launch a campaign to obliterate illiteracy a few short months ago?
This was quite possibly the only decent thing the government has done since getting elected. Now they’ve gone ahead and undermined it already, and just in time for the beginning of the school year.
The message is clear: books are not that important, or at least not as important as regurgitated, stale music.
Way to go, Mr Minister.
As for Mark Camilleri, I support his right to publish his stories in the same way I support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s right to claim the holocaust never happened. It’s just a matter of free speech. It doesn’t make his writings any less worthless than they really are.
He adds nothing to the value of Maltese literature and has no right being anywhere near the National Book Council, let alone heading it. No doubt though that Joseph Muscat thinks that by choosing a ‘controversial author’ he is showing us how liberal and progressive the new government is.
Legions of fools are going to applaud this move.
Oh well, that’s what you get for appearing in Owen Bonnici’s pre-election video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls7-NANt6aI&noredirect=1
Oliver “Balzunetta” Friggieri (most recent best buddy to Mario “Marx” Vella) must be delighted.
All hail il-bidla.
Mark Camilleri was the editor of the magazine wasn’t he? I remember seeing him on the Al Jazeera feature they aired about the case.
I have no idea how he speaks in Maltese, but I remember being shocked at his atrocious English. A university student (and magazine editor to boot) sounding literally like a potato farmer. I felt embarrassed listening to his desperate attempts to make himself understood.
And is he some kind of Graffitti member? Because he could really have used a shower and shave before regaling the Al Jazeera cameras with his impressive linguistic skills.
Do you mean to say that we won’t be having a book fair this year?! That’s the only fair I attend and it’s been an annual appointment since I was a child.
For shame. They’d have us all illiterate; that’s the best way to exercise control.
Natalie, unfortunately you’re probably right. Who wants an educated populace, when you can have a much easier life with drooling followers hanging on to your every word?
How is the chairman of the National Book Council selected?