ICOM-MALTA

04/11/2026

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔 #𝟬𝟮

Behind every publication is a perspective. The way we document, interpret and share our heritage is shaped by the people who research it, preserve it and bring it to life through words and images.

From museum professionals and researchers to authors, artists and publishers, each contributes to how our cultural stories are told and understood.

Whose voices are represented? Whose stories deserve to be heard? And how can publishing help bring different perspectives into the conversation?

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺𝘀, 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 & 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲
📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

02/11/2026

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗔 #𝟬𝟭

Beyond exhibitions and museum displays, publications offer another way to document, interpret and share the stories behind our collections. They preserve research, bring different perspectives to light and make cultural knowledge accessible to audiences far beyond museum walls.

But what motivates museums, authors and cultural professionals to publish? And what can a book communicate that an exhibition alone cannot?

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺𝘀, 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 & 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲
📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

31/10/2026

🎙️ MEET OUR PANELLISTS | From Collections to Publications: Museums, Books & Cultural Heritage

Godwin Vella is a cultural heritage professional working with Heritage Malta, where he is involved in the development and dissemination of publications relating to Malta's historical, archaeological and artistic heritage.

Through Heritage Malta's publishing initiatives, he contributes to making museum research and collections accessible to wider audiences, supporting the documentation, interpretation and appreciation of Malta's cultural heritage.

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

30/10/2026

🎙️ MEET OUR PANELLISTS | From Collections to Publications: Museums, Books & Cultural Heritage

Giulia Privitelli (b. 1992) holds a distinction in two M.A. degrees: in Art History (University of Malta, 2015), and in Theology and the Arts (University of St Andrews, Scotland, 2021).

Since her time as Senior Editor with Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, a cultural non-profit voluntary organisation, she has worked on several publications, including: Princess Poutiatine and the Art of Ballet in Malta (2020), Society Fashion in Malta: The Portrait Photography of Leandro Preziosi (2022), Splendour & Devotion: The Art Collections of the Order of St John (2023), the two-volume award-winning book The Malta Royal Opera House: Power, Culture, and the Stage (2025), the ongoing multi-volume series More Histories (2024– ), and Titles to Talkies: An Incomplete History of Film Culture & Industry in Malta: The First 50 Years (2025). All this aside from catalogues accompanying exhibitions organised by FPM (Music in Malta: From Prehistory to Vinyl [2019); In Search of Line [2023]; Emvin Cremona: The Glass Collage [2025]), and most recently, Gabriel Caruana: Public – Play – Private, as well as the peer-reviewed journal, Treasures of Malta, published three times a year.

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on https://www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

29/10/2026

🎙️ MEET OUR MODERATOR | From Collections to Publications: Museums, Books & Cultural Heritage

Shahed Bensaid (b. 2003) is a Libyan cultural practitioner, researcher and arts communications professional based in Malta, whose work focuses on modern and contemporary Arab art, cultural heritage, identity and public engagement.

She is the founder of the Libyan Modern Art Archive, an independent research and archival initiative dedicated to documenting and promoting Libya's modern artistic heritage. She currently works as a Social Media and Content Creator Officer at Spazju Kreattiv, where she contributes to cultural communications, digital storytelling and audience engagement.

With an academic background in Near Eastern Studies and History of Art at the University of Malta, Shahed has also been involved in curatorial projects, including Dynamic Shifts and the ART CONNECT exhibition series. Her experience extends to academic editing, cultural programming and student leadership, having previously served as President of the International Student Association and the History of Art and Fine Arts Student Association at the University of Malta. She is the co-founder of Tajreed, and involved with ICOM Malta and the Arts and Culture Subcommittee of Kunsill Nazzjonali taż-Żgħażagħ (KNŻ).

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on https://www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

28/10/2026

🎙️ MEET OUR PANELLISTS | From Collections to Publications: Museums, Books & Cultural Heritage

Ryan Falzon (b. 1988) is a Maltese writer and visual artist. Falzon’s paintings and narratives use collage-like visual and literary strategies to explore political, social, and symbolic themes. In his recent works, Falzon mobilises botanical motifs as semiotic carriers, constructing dense pictorial fields where cultivated nature becomes a site for negotiating control, domesticity, and symbolic regeneration.

Falzon has participated in a substantial number of solo and group exhibitions in Malta and Europe since 2009. His body of work from 2016 to 2019 has become a point of reference in contemporary Maltese political and socially engaged art.

Since 2011, Falzon has published several short pieces in various publications. His debut novel SAJF (2022) was Several reviews have referred to SAJF as the voice of the Maltese millennial generation. SAJF was shortlisted for the National Book Council Awards and earned him the Best Emerging Author award, with an English translation supported by an English PEN Translates grant forthcoming in 2026. Falzon has been published in Malta, UK and Slovenia.

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on https://www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

27/10/2026

🎙️ MEET OUR PANELLISTS | From Collections to Publications: Museums, Books & Cultural Heritage

Toni Sant is Associate Professor of Digital Curation at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, UK. Between 2014 and 2020 he was the artistic director of Spazju Kreattiv, Malta's national centre for creativity. He is currently the artistic director of Festgħana, the national annual għana festival produced by Festivals Malta.

His writings on performance, contemporary art, and media archeology have been published internationally in several academic journals and books, including Franklin Furnace & the Spirit of the Avant Garde: A History of the Future (Intellect - University of Chicago Press, 2011), Documenting Performance: The Context and Processes of Digital Curation and Archiving (Bloomsbury, 2017), The Spazju Kreattiv Art Collection (Fondazzjoni Kreattività, 2020), and Enrique Tabone: Catalogue Raisonné (Kite, 2023).

In 2021 Sant was awarded the National Book Prize for Jien-Noti-Jien: Ħsejjes u Stejjer (KKM, 2020) which he co-authored with Immanuel Mifsud. Other activities include membership of the British Art Network and serving as chair of the steering committee for the Wikimedia Central and Eastern Europe Hub.

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
🎟️ Free admission | Registration required on https://www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

📸 Jean Marc Zerafa

26/10/2026

🙌 EVENT ALERT | ICOM Malta at Malta Book Festival 2026!

Museum collections hold stories that deserve to be shared, explored and experienced beyond the spaces in which they are preserved. Through research and publishing, these stories reach new audiences, inspire curiosity and contribute to our understanding of the past.

Join us for an engaging panel discussion exploring the connections between museums, research, publishing and the dissemination of cultural heritage.

Through insights from museum publications and heritage projects, our panellists will reflect on the role of publishing in making Malta’s cultural heritage more accessible and preserving our collective memory for future generations.

The discussion will conclude with an audience Q&A and curated networking opportunity.

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
✍ https://www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

24/10/2026

🙌 SAVE THE DATE | ICOM Malta at the Malta Book Festival 2026

What happens to a museum's stories beyond its walls?

Museums are not only spaces for preserving collections, but also places where knowledge is created, exchanged and shared.

Through books, research and publications, these stories travel beyond museum walls, connecting communities, inspiring dialogue and contributing to our collective understanding of cultural heritage.

Join ICOM Malta for a panel discussion exploring the role of publishing in museums, from transforming collections into compelling narratives to making research and cultural heritage accessible to wider audiences.

🎙️ Featuring museum professionals, researchers and cultural practitioners.

📅 Saturday, 7th November 2026.
🕒 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
📍 Is-Sala tal-Qarrejja, Il-Festival Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb, MFCC, Ta' Qali.
✍ https://www.icom-malta.com/events/malta-book-festival-2026

11/10/2026