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ORESTE CALLEJA
Born in
Ħamrun, (Malta) Calleja
studied at the Lyceum
and St. Michael’s Training College for Teachers (1964-66). He left Malta
in 1974 to study at the University of London, Birkbeck College, and then
in 1990 he attended North Florida University, and Jacksonville
University, Florida, from where he obtained a BA in Art and French.
Calleja was a committee
member of the Moviment Qawmien Letterarju
in the sixties. At the same time he
started writing plays for the stage, radio, and television. These
include Anestesija (1969),
Għargħar (1979),
Ċens Perpetwu (1969),
Satira (1970), Jum Fost l-Oħrajn (1970), En Passant
(1970), Iġsmaiħirsa (1970) and Għażiż
Angelo (1971). Before he
emigrated in 1974, he published Erba’ Drammi (1972) which
is still used in secondary schools as a text in Maltese literature.
Since his return to Malta in
1991, he has written and published three other plays, Għasfur
taċ-Ċomb
(1993), Il-Belliegħa fil-Bir (1994) and U l-Anġlu
Ħabbar...
(1995)
Calleja's success
as a dramatist is mainly due to his
integration of the realistic style with symbolic characteristics that
make his plays universal.
From Maltese Biographies of the
Twentieth Century,
PIN Publications, Malta, 1997.
UPDATE
PREMJI LETTERARJI 2002 and 2004
Other recent
publications by Oreste Calleja include Il-Festa bil-Bandieri
(publ. 2002)
and Pawlu Redux
(publ.
2004), both winners
of the National book award for drama for the respective years of
publication.
Oreste Calleja currently works as a translator with the European
Parliament.
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