The Initial Spark

Among the many traditional monuments and statues we can find around Europe, there are those whose sculptors appear to have departed completely from tradition. I picked out a few of the most interesting, surprising and strange ones I could find. 1. Monument to a woman’s handbag - Cuneo, Italy A women's handbag is a very important wardrobe item. Psychologists say that by the handbag you can determine the nature and hobbies of a woman.  The most famous monument to a women's handbag is in Cuneo, Italy. 2. Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat - Reykjavik, Iceland Several countries have monuments to the Unknown Soldier, but perhaps only Iceland has a sculpture honoring the job of the bureaucrat.  This 1994 sculpture by Magnús Tómasson depicts a man in a suit holding a briefcase, with his head and shoulders subsumed in a slab of unsculpted stone. 3. Untitled 1986 (The Headington Shark) - Oxford, England ...

I’ll admit it. When someone asks me how I’m doing, the first word that usually comes out of my mouth is – Busy. Usually preceded by a big, overly dramatic sigh. And I’m definitely not alone. If you live in Malta in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It has become the automatic response to when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy.” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the usual response is a kind of congratulation: “ That’s a good problem to have. ” or “ Better than the opposite. ” Almost everyone I know is busy. They feel anxious and guilty when they aren’t either working, or doing something to promote their work. I recently wrote a friend to ask if he wanted to do something this week, and he answered that he didn’t have a lot of time, but if something was going on to let him know and maybe he could get rid of work for a few hours. This made me ...

If you know someone who questions the importance of reading fiction, just show them this article. Nothing else needs to be said. So, I am going to be talking to you about reading. I’m going to passionately explain that reading fiction, that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can do. For the sake of clarity, I am biased, because I’m an author, often an author of fiction. I mainly write for adolescents and teenagers. My first two novels titled ‘The Wave’ and 'Far From Home' were published by Faraxa Publishing. I have a dream, that one day… I will be earning my living through my words, mostly by making things up and writing them down. It is obviously in my interest for people to read, for them to read fiction.  So I’m biased as a writer, but I am much, much more biased as a reader. Fiction has two uses. Firstly, it’s a gateway to reading. The drive to know what happens next. To want to turn the page. The need to keep going, because someone...