Local authors to release new book ‘The Crooked Timber’

Gibraltarian writers Giordano Durante and Gabriel Moreno are releasing a new book next month.
Titled ‘The Crooked Timber’, the book comprises a series of exchanges between Mr Durante and Mr Moreno about poetic craft, the nature of artistic inspiration, the hybrid aspects of Gibraltarian identity, the lure of fame and flattery and some middle-aged grousing.

The poets also discuss and take apart their own poems in order to shed light on the themes they are drawn to in their writing and to argue for their approaches to poetic form.

“We started this exchange two years ago and, at the time, neither of us planned to publish it,” Mr Durante said.

“As the text grew and became more ambitious, we decided it might be a useful resource for other writers and artists in Gibraltar as we discuss the opportunities for a creative response to the Gibraltarian experience and work through what it takes to make a poem, from the first inklings of a theme to the finished and polished product.”

“All this sounds terribly serious but the book is also packed with lashings of self-mockery and those Quixotic flights of the imagination that make life bearable as we face the first encroachments of physical decay.”

The printed book is also the fruit of a unique collaboration between local artists: the cover features a painting by Aaron Soleci, the cover design is by Stefano Blanca Sciacaluga and the interior contains original photographs by Daryl Lee Pallas.

“I have always thought that writing poetry is a response to otherness,” Mr Moreno said.

“The poem is a letter to yourself but also to those who have written and are writing around you.

When Giordano and I started exchanging messages we realised that this digital epistolary exchange was inspiring us to write more.”

“We wondered whether this could be useful to others too. We also turned the letters into a sort of wardrobe which could store our thoughts and deliberations concerning literature, Gibraltarian identity in the arts and other problematic topics.”

“We felt safe in this kingdom of letters so we expressed ourselves freely and without taboos, hoping to come up with some mutual inferences from the crooked timber of our doubts and fears.”

The book will be released at El Kasbah in Castle Street on Friday, April 4. Doors open at 8pm and the event starts at 9pm.

The first part of the evening will feature the presentation of ‘The Crooked Timber’ followed by an hour-long musical bonanza celebrating Gabriel’s latest album ‘Nights In The Belly of Bohemia’.

A limited number of tickets are still available via WeGotTickets.

The book is published by Patuka Press and will be on sale at local outlets after the launch.