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Karl Schembri (born in 1978 in Malta) is a Maltese author, journalist [1] and humanitarian. Schembri also occupied the post of News Editor and Deputy Editor at Malta Today . [2] He started working in journalism with In-Nazzjon and Il-Mument in 1995, moving on to Bay Radio, The Malta Independent , The Malta Independent on Sunday and Malta Today. He left Malta in 2009 to join the Palestinian news agency Ramattan in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Schembri's investigative journalism led to the clampdown on the trading of ancient Mesopotamian artefacts from Iraq on eBay via Malta, the first ever exposure of rampant child rape by Catholic priests in a children's institution, [3] fraudulent faith healers, and the serious security lapses at Malta's world heritage and fine arts museums from where priceless pieces have been stolen. In an April 2006 investigation, Schembri revealed internal armed forces communications logs showing that Maltese army rescuers were given orders to “keep at a distance” from a boat carrying 200 migrants in gale-force winds, hours before 9 of them drowned and at least 20 went missing in a shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. [4]
He has reported extensively from Libya, Kosovo, Albania, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and won the 2000 Malta press award for his reporting. He also contributes to The Sunday Telegraph, Russian Newsweek and The Guardian Weekly and is the founding chairman of The Journalists' Committee.
In 2009, Schembri joined Palestinian news agency Ramattan as their English service editor, first in Ramallah and then in the Gaza Strip, where he lived for four years before moving to Jordan.
Over the past years, Schembri has been based in the Middle East working as a media adviser with humanitarian organisations including Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children. [5] He has covered humanitarian crises in the region in Yemen, Syria, Palestine and Iraq, as well as the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon.
A sociology graduate from the University of Malta, he has written two novels, Taħt il-Kappa tax-Xemx in 2002 and Il-manifest tal-killer in 2006. His book of poetry Passju Taħt ix-Xita was published in 2012 as was his book of poetry in English Remember The Future, published in the US. In 2020 a children's book called It-Tifel li Salva d-Dinja (The Boy who Saved the World) was published by Merlin Publishers in Malta.
He is also the co-author of the anthology of poems Frekwenzi ta' Spriti fis-Sakra (1997) and co-editor with fellow author Adrian Grima of Id-Demm Nieżel bħax-Xita (2009) - an anthology of poems in solidarity with Palestinians published during the 22-day war on Gaza. [6] Il-manifest tal-killer was censored by the University of Malta's radio station, [7] Campus FM, after the management learnt that it was going to be read in the literary programme series Wara Arrigo in January 2007. Malta public library readers were also banned from lending the book outside libraries. An adaptation by Bryan Muscat was staged in October 2008 by Lemonhead Productions.
In 2019, several of his Maltese and English poems were published in Arabic translation in the book I turn every stone in the forest, (Egypt: Safsafa Publications, 2019). His poetry has been published in Arabic, Spanish, English, French, Turkish, Greek, Romanian and Slovenian translation. He has been invited to read in literature festivals in France, Australia, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, Indonesia, Romania and Morocco.
Fellow Maltese writer and critic Mario Azzopardi (born in 1944 in Ħamrun Malta) describes Schembri as "a pioneer in his generation that has assaulted his nation that is lubricated on hypocrisy, nepotism and corruption", [8] while author Ramona Depares describes his fiction as "being grounded in reality". [9]
Manwel Dimech, also known as Manuel Dimech was a Maltese socialist, philosopher, journalist, writer, poet and social revolutionary. Born in Valletta and brought up in extreme poverty and illiteracy, Dimech spent significant portions of his early life in the Maltese prison system, mostly on charges of petty theft. At the age of seventeen, Dimech was arrested for the crime of involuntary murder, and sentenced to seventeen years in jail. After being thrown in jail, Dimech started to educate himself and became a man of letters.
Gerard James Borg is a Maltese songwriter, author, and concept creator. He is well known for writing multiple songs that competed in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Moviment Graffitti is a left-wing radical environmentalist non governmental organisation and pressure group in Malta.
Frans Sammut was a Maltese novelist and non-fiction writer.
Ġorġ Mallia is a Maltese communications academic, author and cartoonist.
Malta Today is a twice-weekly English language newspaper published in Malta. Its first edition was published in 1999, and started out as a Friday newspaper.
Maltese literature is any literature originating from Malta or by Maltese writers or literature written in the Maltese language.
Ian Schranz, best known by the stage name Bark Bark Disco, is a Maltese indie musician. Schranz first began his career as the drummer of the band Beangrowers before establishing himself as a solo artist.
Pierre J Mejlak is a Maltese novelist and short story writer.
Oliver Friggieri was a Maltese poet, novelist, literary critic, and philosopher. He led the establishment of literary history and criticism in Maltese while teaching at the University of Malta, studying the works of Dun Karm, Rużar Briffa, and others. A prolific writer himself, Friggieri explored new genres to advocate the Maltese language, writing the libretti for the first oratorio and the first cantata in Maltese. His work aimed to promote the Maltese cultural identity, while not shying from criticism: one of his most famous novels, Fil-Parlament Ma Jikbrux Fjuri, attacked the tribalistic divisions of society caused by politics. From philosophy, he was mostly interested in epistemology and existentialism.
Emanuel Benjamin Vella, also known as E. B. Vella, was a Maltese schoolteacher and writer. He was born in Mosta on 20 June 1898 to Clement Vella and his wife Carmela née Azzopardi. He was a member of the Maltese Writers Association. He died in Mosta on 2 May 1946. A primary school in Mosta is named after him.
Adrian Delia, is a Maltese politician, and lawyer by profession. He is the former leader of the Nationalist Party from September 2017 till October 2020.
Clare Azzopardi is a Maltese author who writes for both adults and younger readers.
Loranne Vella is a Maltese writer, translator and performer based in Brussels. She has won the Malta National Book Council's National Book Prize several times, including Best Novel in Maltese or English for Rokit (2018) and Marta Marta (2023). She is co-editor of the Maltese-language literary journal Aphroconfuso.
Albert Marshall is a Maltese–Australian senior leader, board member, executive producer, lecturer, theatre & television director, television presenter, lyricist and author in the Maltese language
Trevor Żahra is a Maltese novelist, poet and illustrator. He has published over 120 books in the Maltese language since 1971.
Nadia Mifsud is a poet, novelist and trilingual literary translator. Born in Malta, she moved to France in 1998. Mifsud is Malta's third poet laureate.
Mark Montebello is a Maltese philosopher and author. He is mostly known for his controversies with Catholic Church authorities but also for his classic biographies of Manuel Dimech and Dom Mintoff.
Mark Camilleri M.Q.R is a Maltese historian, writer, blogger, publisher, and investigative journalist. Camilleri served as chairman of the National Book Council from 2013 to 2021. Following this, he became an outspoken critic of the ruling Labour Party and of prime ministers Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela.
Ramona Depares is an author and journalist based in Malta. She obtained a Doctorate of Laws from the University of Malta in 1999. Depares joined The Times of Malta as a legal reporter soon after, before taking on the role of executive editor of the in-house magazine E&D in 2007 and, later, of Head of News.
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