A Writer's Guide to Msida

The University of Malta Library is the main library on the Msida campus. Its Archives & Rare Books department holds literary manuscripts and rare books, including the papers of Dun Karm Psaila and Francis Ebejer; book the research room before you come. Local residents studying with a foreign university can apply to borrow, with a letter of acceptance, ID and an annual fee. The library also holds public talks and book sales.

The Central Public Library in Floriana runs cataloguing and acquisitions for Malta's public libraries. Researchers and students use its Reference, Melitensia and Audiovisual Section by appointment. You can ask for scans by email. The section has also hosted author interviews.

Founded in 1776, the National Library in Valletta holds the archive of the Order of St John, along with manuscripts and Melitensia. Reading Room use is by appointment. Students bring a letter of recommendation from their university, and established scholars send a CV. Walk-in visitors can see the exhibition area.

The regional branch in Birkirkara is in the town's Civic Centre.

Midsea Books sells its own list from a shop in Santa Venera. It calls itself Malta's leading publisher, and its imprints include Heritage Books and Klabb Kotba Maltin. The list runs from archaeology and the Knights of Malta to World War II, with art and architecture, Maltese novels, academic books and children's books besides. The shop is open weekdays.

Merlin Library shares its Blata l-Bajda address with Merlin Publishers, which publishes fiction, poetry, drama and translation, mostly in Maltese with some English titles. The shop specialises in children's books, from babies to young adults, and stocks adult fiction and nonfiction. It has supplied school textbooks since 1978. A second shop is in Sliema.

BDL publishes its own books and distributes those of other publishing houses. Its shop in San Ġwann, a cross between a warehouse and an outlet, supplies all of Malta and Gozo and is open to browsers on weekdays.

The Valletta Cultural Agency turned the old abattoir in Valletta into this creative hub. A co-working room holds up to twenty stations, through membership schemes. There is a food space and a public roof garden. Inizjamed's literature festival has used it for panels and a translation masterclass.

Manouche is a Maltese craft bakery and bistro with several branches, and this one is on St John's Square. It is open daily. Weekend brunch gets loud.

The Maltese confectioner Busy Bee started at a seafront shop in Msida in 1933. Its coffee shop and gelateria on the Ta' Xbiex seafront are open daily into the late evening.

Kixott is an arts and culture venue in Mosta with a cocktail and whisky bar. Its programme runs to gigs, film screenings and true-crime nights, listed mostly in English.

TS Café is the daytime café of Teatru Salesjan, Sliema's community theatre, which traces its roots to 1908 and is a registered voluntary organisation. Its stage programme mixes music, opera, theatre and comedy. The café hangs art shows.

Inizjamed is a voluntary cultural organisation, founded in 1998, that runs the annual Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival. Readings are in Maltese and English. Around them come panels, author interviews, writing labs, translation sessions and an open mic, Palk Ħieles.

The National Book Council is Malta's public body for books and publishing, based in Pembroke. It issues ISBNs and pays Public Lending Right to authors, translators and editors. Much of the site is in Maltese, with English pages available.

The National Book Council holds its annual book festival at the MFCC in Ta' Qali. Publishers, booksellers and self-published authors take part.

L-Akkademja tal-Malti works for the Maltese language and is a member of the European Writers' Council. It holds conferences, talks and evening events, publishes the journal Il-Malti and a series of classic Maltese literature, and takes members. It works mainly in Maltese.

Malta University Press is the University of Malta's academic press. It welcomes proposals for academic books from local and international authors through an online form, and its editorial board reviews them.

OAR@UM is the University of Malta Library's open access repository. Its more than 50 communities include Maltese Journals and the Institute of Maltese Studies. Search by subject or by issue date.

Xjenza Malta is the national research and innovation agency, based at Villa Bighi in Kalkara. It manages the national funding streams, among them Fusion and the Research Networking Scheme. It also hosts Malta's National Contact Points for Horizon Europe and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

Nursing in Critical Care, the journal of the British Association of Critical Care Nurses, publishes work on critical care nursing practice, research, education and management. One of its two co-editors-in-chief is at the University of Malta in Msida. Preparing an article for Nursing in Critical Care

Arts Council Malta's Arts Support Scheme funds the planning, development and delivery of artistic projects. Individual artists and creative professionals can apply, and so can groups, cooperatives and voluntary organisations. Funded projects have included work by writers.

The National Book Council has run the Malta Book Fund every year since 2015. Authors, self-published writers, publishers and translators have all received grants. Its strands cover new books and new editions of out-of-print works, e-books and audiobooks, and translation into and out of Maltese, including pitch grants for sample translations.

The National Book Council calls this Malta's highest literary prize. It recognises authors, editors, translators, publishers and illustrators of books published the year before. The prize page is in Maltese, with an English version.

This contest takes one original, unpublished poem in Maltese. A new jury judges the entries anonymously each year.

Glenn Calleja binds books by hand in traditional techniques at this studio in Rabat. He sells handmade notebooks and paper goods and publishes small editions, poetry among them, many in Maltese. The site lists workshops.

Gutenberg Press in Żejtun prints hardbacks, paperbacks, illustrated books and special editions, and ships from Malta to the UK and across Europe. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is a client. It prints reports and catalogues too.