Local writers to join literary festival line-up

A number of Gibraltar writers will be joining the line-up for the 7th Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival.

This year will see the 25th edition of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust’s Journal being published.

This will be presented by Tito Benady and Richard Garcia, the Journal’s current editor, who will talk about the story of the Journal and will consider some of the highlights of earlier editions.

Over the years, the Journal has become an invaluable record of Gibraltar’s history, including our relatively recent history, through the publication of personal reminiscences and family histories, in addition to more traditional articles on military history, social history, language in Gibraltar, and much else.

Julian Felice is Gibraltar’s first ever internationally published playwright.

He is currently the Head of Drama at Bayside School and is the director of the Bayside & Westside Drama Group.

Mr Felice’s talk will focus on his attempts to overcome the Impostor Syndrome as manifested by his initial insecurities with being labelled a ‘playwright’.

He will be tracking his trajectory as a writer, trying to ascertain whereabouts he may have gained this particular label.

Professor Clive Finlayson is the Director of the Gibraltar National Museum and of the Gorham’s Cave Complex World Heritage Site. Clive is also Beacon Professor of the University of Gibraltar

Mr Finlayson will be interviewed by Alice Mascarenhas as he talks about this latest book The Smart Neanderthal.

He draws on his team’s research in Gorham’s and Vanguard caves in Gibraltar, and evidence from other Neanderthal sites, as well as insights from natural history, in particular knowledge from observing birds, to present a very different emerging view of Neanderthals.

Sam Benady and Sarah Devincenzi will be talking about their current work, A Pictorial History of Gibraltar, an illustrated overview of Gibraltar history, the result of many years of patient and loving research.

Both authors will be interviewed by John Tanzer, a retired UK judge, member of the Friends of Gibraltar, and a frequent visitor to the Rock.

Other guests joining the Festival from the UK will include, Kavita Puri, an award-winning journalist and radio broadcaster.

Her landmark three-part series Partition Voices for BBC Radio 4 won the Royal Historical Society's Radio and Podcast Award and its overall Public History Prize.

Ms Puri will be talking about Partition Voices in her presentation.

Jonathan Phillips is Professor of Crusading History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of numerous books on the subject, most recently The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin.

This talk traces his emergence as the rising star of an ambitious Kurdish clan who ascended to power through military skill and, in his case, considerable charm, piety and good fortune.

It shows how a man initially branded as ‘the son of Satan’ became so esteemed in Europe and, through extensive new research, will follow how his character and achievements have acted as a role model for generations across the Near East down to the present day.