il-ktieb tar-rih u l-fjuri

the book of the wind and flowers

Il-Ktieb tar-Rih u l-Fjuri is a collection of sixty poems written between 1989 and 2001.

Disillusion with love blends with a love of beauty, celebrated most avidly in the erotic verse of a number of poems in the collection. Travel too inspires the poet who takes on his persona of a wandering pilgrim in search of the unknown.

Despite the colour and beauty, certain poems reveal darker sides of the poet's life. "Ftit Qabel Doza Seroxat" (Just Before a Dose of Seroxat) and "Il-Poezija s-Sewda" (The Black Poem) document the darkest moments in the private life of this clinically depressed writer.

Some of the poems in this collection were translated into English by Maria Grech Ganado, and French by Patrice Sanguy. The book was also shortlisted for the Premio Tivoli 2002, for which selected poems were translated into Italian by Arnold Cassola.

It also placed second in the poetry section of the Malta National Literary Awards for 2001. That year the first prize was not awarded.

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