INTERVIEW IN "THE WEEKENDER"
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The Times of Malta, 1 December, 2007

In the December 1 issue of The Weekender, a weekly supplement published by  The Times, STANLEY BORG interviewed Mario Azzopardi on Charles Briffa's biocrit, Travelling between Shadows, as well as Azzopardi's own collection of stories for teenagers and young adults, Alicia Titkellem mill-Imwiet (Alicia speaks from the Underworld). Azzopardi was also questioned on the current state of Maltese literature.

Excerts:

What has been your experience in collaborating with Briffa for his biocrit on you?

Travelling between Shadows proved to be a unique experience, in the sense that you are asked to "collaborate" with an author who is virtually dissecting you, bit by bit, detail by detail. I found Charles Briffa extremely perceptive and I was quite astonished to read revelations he had underpinned when analysing my new batch of poems. It is fascinating to see your work treated under the microscope, so to speak, where a lot of literary spy-work is going on, informed by hidden facets of your personal life.

What about your stories about teenage angst?

The Alicia project for young adults happened very incidentally. I was asked by Chris (Gruppetta) of Merlin Publishers to submit one short story to be included in a school anthology for upper primary students. I wrote Meta dahal ix-Xenxul (literally, When the Jellyfish Came Ashore), about what happens on an island when its shores are invaded by jellyfish. Chris liked the story so much that he invited me to write more stuff, and in a matter of weeks I handed him the bulk of what is now a short anthology of stories for adolescents and young people.
Chris beleives these are cutting edge stories and very new for the Maltese market. He should know best, since I have never published for
this age group. But I have worked a lot as a drama animator with young adults, often devising scripts for their projects. I also taught
literature for a very long time to young people at pre-university and university level, so I know the themes they find relevant
and which concern them most: pressure, family (including mixed-up arrangements), sexuality and love, identity,
awakenings and all sorts of challenges. So I thought I would deal with teenage angst. I chose core themes which deal with the developmental and psychological needs of young readers but I had to surmount one problem: avoiding at all costs being patronising.

Do you think the collection will create controversy?

I know there is an amount of risk-taking in the themes I hit on, especially where sex is concerned and there is one particular story about
sexual abuse, concerning the deflowering of a young girl, which I wrote at least five times. I am aware that literature for young adults today can be sensationalist. I am reminded, for instance, of Melvin Burgess' Doing It (2004), which The Guardian had described as "filth, whichever way you look at it". I know we must certainly come of age, but I am not interested in selling filth.

What in your opinion, is the current state of Maltese literature?

I think that essentially, Maltese literature still guards itself from confrontational material. Subject-matter is often remote, alienatory or even
downright populist. There is a reluctance on the part of Maltese writers to commit themselves to serious, thought provoking themes and above all, there is a schematic mind-frame to avoid being "political".  This says a lot about the lack of social engagement which denotes local literary production. There have been exceptions and there's a crop of new writers who are struggling to beat inhibitions. But there is too much mediocrity flooding the market and I suspect this is both a consequence of very limited life experience and of physical and psychological insularity.