Antoine Cassar
Antoine Cassar is a Maltese poet, translator, and creative activist for universal freedom of movement.
Born in London to Maltese parents in 1978, Cassar grew up between England, Malta and Spain, and worked and studied in Italy, France and Luxembourg. In 2004, after a thirteen-year absence from the Maltese islands, he returned to Qrendi, the village of his family, to re-learn a language he had almost forgotten.
In 2009, Cassar's multilingual composition Merħba, a poem of hospitality was awarded the United Planet Writing Prize. His Maltese poems have been translated into over twenty languages.
Passaport, a long poem printed in the form of an anti-passport for all peoples and all landscapes, has been published in ten languages, with profits donated to grassroots associations supporting refugees in the community. The poem has been adapted for the stage in Malta (awarded Best Production and Best Actress at the 2010 MADC One Act Play Festival), France, Belgium, Italy, and Australia.
Bejn / Between, a selection of 33 Maltese poems with parallel translation in English (by the author, Éire Stuart & Alex Vella Gera), plus the long English poem The Long Rope, was published in 2011 (Ed. Skarta).
Erbgħin Jum (Forty Days), a series of poems about walking as self-therapy, was published by Ede Books in 2017.
As a literary translator, Cassar has rendered a number of his fellow Maltese authors into English and Spanish, and is an avid translator into Maltese of Neruda and Whitman.
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© Antoine Cassar 2018.Copies may be authorised by luxorr (Luxembourg Organisation For Reproduction Rights)
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Author Archives: antoinecassar
The shapes of Lesvos
Lesbos, or Lesvos. Shaped, as written by Odysseas Elytis, like a platanus leaf, which “some god, in order to have his fun, severed and blew away in the middle of the ocean”. I see more of a resemblance with a fig … Continue reading
Erbgħin Jum – it-tnedija – 30.12.17 @ Studio Solipsis
ERBGĦIN JUM Tnedija tal-ktieb il-ġdid ta’ Antoine Cassar Mużika ta’ Adolf Formosa, Alex Vella Gera u Mark Abela Is-Sibt 30 ta’ Diċembru, 7 pm @ Studio Solipsis Pubblikazzjoni ta’ Ede Books Illustrazzjonijiet: Steven Scicluna Disinn: Marco Scerri Editjar: Immanuel Mifsud … Continue reading
Passporting in June
This is a busy month for the ‘anti-passport’, with events organised by readers of the poem in different places and across different ‘genres’. An exhibition in Paris, a solidarity action with refugees in Zagreb, a multilingual choir in the Jura mountains, and a … Continue reading
The shape of Lampedusa (reprise)
(Written following a trip to Lampedusa, two years after writing The shape of Lampedusa – part 1) After having visited Lampedusa, I see four new shapes in its map. As suggested by this mural on the side of a children’s … Continue reading
Lejl 30 (Stħajjel)
Ħadt pjaċir ħafna naqra mill-poeżiji tal-Erbgħin Jum għand il-Bongo Nyah il-Ħamis li għadda, speċjalment bil-kumpanija u l-kuraġġ ta’ Adolf, Alex u z-Zizza jdoqqu warajja. Apparti t-tema fil-bidu ta’ kull taqsima u l-bażi ta’ Lejl 34 (il-poeżija ta’ Ġesù u t-tentazzjoni), il-mużika kienet … Continue reading
Għal għonq it-triq #10: Mark Strand
Strand mhuwiex fost il-poeti favoriti tiegħi – l-istil tiegħu filli jinħass iddilwit, u filli wisq klawstrofobiku. Madankollu, it-tiftix ta’ bilanċ bejniethom insibu interessanti, u dan l-aħħar sirt napprezzah aktar. Xlewh fuq li xlewh, u xahar wara mewtu għadhom jixluh sal-lum, b’li kien jikteb … Continue reading
On poetry as therapy
Over the past two months, I’ve learnt a lot about writing as therapy. Since early October I’ve written more pages of poetry than I usually muster in a year, though I still have a long way to go. Day poems about … Continue reading
