JOE FRIGGIERI is Professor of Philosophy and member of Senate at the University of Malta. He holds doctorates from Milan and Oxford and is also a poet, playwright and theatre director.  His publications include two books on the English philosopher J.L. Austin, three volumes of poetry, three collections of short stories, a number of plays, as well as In-Nisga tal-Hsieb, the first history of philosophy in Maltese. He has won several literary awards, including the National Literary Prize three times (1993, 1999 and 2003).

Professor Friggieri is well-known among theatre audiences for his exciting and highly original productions of over forty plays, including seven of Shakespeare's best-loved works, and for his translations of Aristophanes, Molière, Ibsen, Chekhov, Pirandello, Ugo Betti, Ionesco and Arthur Miller.  He has also directed four operas and written the libretto of Charles Camilleri's Il-Weghda, the first opera in the Maltese language, as well as the lyrics of three song cycles by the same composer.

Joe Friggieri was chairman of the Manoel Theatre (1990-93), member of the Broadcasting Authority (1993-96), editor of the arts journal Arti (1971-74) and of the monthly newspaper Illum (1975-80), chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (2003-05), founder-editor of Kultura 21, as well as presenter and producer of cultural programmes on radio and television. He was guest research scholar and lecturer at the Universities of Venice, Amsterdam, St Andrews, Augsburg and Genova.  He is president of the Philosophy Society, chairman of the Board of Theatre Studies and a regular contributor to political, social and cultural debate.

His latest collection of short stories, Hrejjef ghal Zmienna (Tales for Our Times), written originally in Maltese, was translated into English and extensively reviewed by Professor David E. Cooper in the London Times Literary Supplement under the title "Crammed with Fine Dreams".  Professor Cooper wrote: "Joe Friggieri conveys a gentle nostalgia for times not so very long past, and embellished by memories of a childhood that never quite was. What is recalled with a sense of loss are the days when people had the leisure to wonder at the mystery of simple things - the schoolboys, for example, whose imagination is stirred by their cardboard kaleidoscopes until a new teacher proscribes them as a waste of time."

These short stories have also been translated into French and published by Filprint (Malta) as Contes de Notre Temps.

Pubblications

Descartes, Caravaggio and ir-Ronnie

Three new books by Joe Friggieri, dealing with three different characters, two historical and one fictional, have just rolled out of the press and are now available at leading booksellers.

Caravaggio: L-inkjesta, published by Klabb Kotba Maltin, contains the full text of the play recently performed at the Manoel Theatre. The production was sponsored and presented by Heritage Malta to mark the fourth centenary of Caravaggio's Maltese experience.

Described by art historian Keith Sciberras as "a brilliant analysis of Caravaggio's life and art", the play "brings back to life major characters from Caravaggio's days and places them in a contemporary Maltese setting in order to portray the image of a turbulent man whose fiery nature stirred his artistic vigour. Spiced with irony and wit and intertwined with a story of contemporary political wrangling, the play moves in masterly fashion between the realms of history and the imagination."

In-Nisga tal-Hsieb, Vol 2, published by Media Centre Ltd, covers the history of philosophy from Descartes to Kant.  In Professor Peter Serracino Inglott's words, "anybody who is at all interested in philosophy, even if only as background knowledge for other interests, will enjoy the clarity and occasional wit of Friggieri's exposition. The reader of this book will find in it not only first-rate reporting of what the great philosophers of the baroque and neo-classical age said, but a discussion of the great and perhaps eternal problems that human beings have discussed about the meaningfulness or otherwise of their existence."

Aktar Stejjer tar-Ronnie, also published by Media Centre Ltd, is a new collection of humorous short stories featuring "ir-Ronnie", that lovable Maltese anti-hero struggling to survive in a harsh and hostile environment. The book is beautifully illustrated by Steven Bonello.