Ramona Depares | |
|---|---|
 Depares in 2024 | |
| Born | July 24, 1975 Valletta, Malta |
| Occupation | Journalist, author, editor |
| Education | University of Malta |
| Subject | Biography, journalism, essays |
| Years active | 1999 - present |
| Website | |
| ramonadepares | |
Ramona Depares (born July 24, 1975) is a Maltese author, journalist and theatre critic. [1] [2] She previously worked at the Times of Malta, and is now a freelance journalist and creative writer.
She obtained a degree in law from the University of Malta in 1999. [3] [4]
Depares began working as a freelancer for the Times of Malta in the 1990s. [4] [5] After graduating from university, she joined the paper as a legal reporter. She took on the role of executive editor of the in-house magazine E&D in 2007. In 2011, she joined the paper's editorial staff in a full-time capacity, and in 2019, she became Head of News. [4] She also served as "assistant editor with The Sunday Times of Malta and editor of the monthly Sunday Circle magazine". [4]
Depares left the Times in 2019 to launch her website, which specialises in culture related features and reviews. [5] She is a theatre critic [6] [7] [8] and runs an SEO content-writing project [9] while working on new creative writing projects. [10]
She is the editor of Encore Arts & Culture Magazine [11] and of Horeca Malta, a magazine dedicated to the hotels, restaurants and catering industry. [12] [5]
Her short story collection Beltin: Stejjer Minn Nies Minsija was published in 2019. The stories focus on the grassroots community of Valletta from the 1970s to the 1990s, [13] based on the author's recollections and the memories of her friends and family. [14] The book is illustrated by artist Moira Zahra. [15] It was partially financed by the National Book Council. [14] The book is part of the Malta Book Council's foreign rights catalogue [16] and was lauded by veteran author Trevor Żahra for "keeping Valletta alive". [14]
She published a second short story collection, The Patient in Hospital Zero, in 2021. The collection is "concerned with human nature, particularly its darker undertones". The main protagonist of the work are women, a conscious choice made by Depares because women are rarely presented as antiheroes. [17]
Depares has also written an authorized biography of Katya Saunders, one of Malta's first openly transgender women. [18] The book, entitled Katya: Easy on the Tonic, was described as an "important documentation of the life of a woman who is viewed as a role model for an entire generation". [19]
Depares was born and raised in Valletta. [14]
Depares underwent a hysterectomy at age 45, and has spoken on the need for increased education on recovery from hysterectomies and other similar procedures. [5] She has chosen not to have children. [5]