Literary Harvest
by Claudia Gauci, literary editor
We usually eat potatoes, rather than thinking and writing about them. In this collection, the passion for the growing of this crop meets the art of poetry.
The poems written for the project Poetry in Potato Bags were numerous and the enthusiasm of all the poets involved was the most fulfilling aspect of the entire project. A strict selective
process was necessary and this was not an easy task. Nevertheless, all the poets had the opportunity to read their work in public during events that were linked to the project.
The poetry in this collection goes beyond potatoes and fields. The laborious journey potatoes undertake has been translated into words that travel deep and stir a myriad of emotions which define
the human condition, such as the value of relationships and the need to retrace one’s roots.
It was also a pleasure to be able to translate works originally written in Frisian, into Maltese. Different landscapes were evoked but the movement inwards was the same; there were poems touching in rural and local spaces, as well as poems about domestic locations. To see dams and Dutch landscapes settle into the Maltese language was a unique literary experience.
I wish the readers of this publication a satisfying literary harvest.
