Leanne Ellul
- Malta -
Leanne Ellul writes poetry and prose, and has published for both adults and children mainly in Maltese but also in English. She was named Best Emerging Author in the 2016 National Book Prize, and her works for children have garnered various awards. Ellul won first place in the national competition for theatre writing and the Novel for Youths Prize 2014 with Gramma that was also translated to English and published in Arabic. In 2023 she won the same prize for her forthcoming novel be;n il-kmiem. L-Inventarju tal-Kamra l-Kaħla, her first poetry collection, was published in 2020. Her second collection, Bjuda, is part of an interdisciplinary project centered around the colour white and translated to English by Albert Gatt. Ellul lectures in Maltese language, literature and creative writing. She has translated a number of books, especially children’s books to Maltese. She is active in NGOs organising a number of festivals and open mics, namely Inizjamed and HELA Foundation. www.leanneellul.net
Leanne Ellul initially began writing poetry before turning to fiction for children and young adults. She has also written plays, one of which was the recipient of the Francis Ebejer prize.
When writing for a young adult audience, Ellul is fascinated by and attempts to explore sensitive topics, such as terminal illnesses and psychological disorders. For example, the protagonist of Gramma (Gram, Merlin Publishers, 2015), her first novel, suffers from an eating disorder. Her forthcoming novel, be;n il-kmiem, making Leanne Ellul a second time winner of the Novel for Youths Prize, centres on self-harm.
Ellul’s treatment of these topics is subtle and injected with humour and wordplay – especially through the use of punning. Through such stylistic devices, she avoids the clichés that tend to infiltrate this genre, not least the fact that the treatment of young adult problems is practically a foregone conclusion in fiction intended for this readership. While she resists the idea of literature as a tool to moralise or teach, she is nevertheless conscious of the indirect role that literature can play in raising awareness. Her work is partly intended to address the lacuna in Maltese literature on certain topics. Through her stylistic inventiveness, Ellul’s treatment of disturbing topics becomes an exploration of the fragility and vulnerability of human relationships.
In contrast to her writings for young readers, which temper the seriousness of the subject matter with humour, Ellul’s writing for adults is rooted in painful events relating to family, love, loss and the sea. On the one hand, there is Nanna Girasola’s lightheartedness, inventiveness and love of music in the children’s book L-Istorja ta’ Seb it-Tieni (u ta’ Seb l-Ewwel ukoll) (The Story of Seb the Second (and of Seb the First as well), Merlin Publishers, 2019). On the other, there is the portrayal of the loss of her own grandmother, receding in a wail of ambulance sirens in her poetry collection L-Inventarju tal-Kamra l-Kaħla (The Blue Room Inventory, Merlin Publishers, 2020). And yet, no matter who her intended readers are, Ellul’s characters take on a life of their own and are always endowed with an element of playfulness, both in the way they are described and also in the way they speak. What is left unsaid, the spaces between words, matters as much as what is written.
This is very much so emphasised in Bjuda (Whiteness, Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, 2022) which is a collection of white poems part of an interdisciplinary project that explores white through poetry, photography by Giola Cassar, and music by Kenneth Sacco. The poet claims to have been fascinated by the colour white for quite some time – it is a colour (or not) of possibilities, changes, and transformations. It can become whichever colour one likes, and above all, it is not just a colour. It symbolises many aspects and milestones in our lives – it is present, even when we don’t think about it. Imagine a wedding, or the clouds, or milk. It is present in the mundane as well as the extraordinary. The poems move backward to explore the colour white of childhood as a memory and move forwards to explore the colour white of old age as a likelihood. The poems ultimately found home in an anthology in the shape of a box that opens up to a collection of postcards, cards, and posters that the readers could piece together and read as they please.
A visit to Ireland was what incited her latest collection published as a chapbook: Il-Manifest tas-Siġar (The Tree Manifesto, EDE Books, 2022). A number of these poems were translated to English by Helena Camilleri and published in Modern Poetry in Translation. This evergrowing collection of poems is a series celebrating trees in different spaces in Malta (lacking greenery) and outside of it. Ireland is much greener than Malta, and while the poet was there, she was overtaken by the beauty and possibility of such hues. For instance, in Is-Siġar ta’ Killarney (The Trees of Killarney) Ellul remarks on how an image of a willow tree diving, almost drowning, in the waters remained with her, allowing the poem to blossom.
Ellul treats writing as an instrument that opens up a space for her to explore current themes and discourses. She describes her writing process as a series of editorial cycles. A disciplined writer; her editing process forces her to engage with the minutiae of language, which she approaches as raw material for her to mould. There is a liberating sense of exploration in Ellul’s work, and this marks her writing and identity as an author.
This essay is a collage of a biography written by Stephanie Xerri Agius originally written for <<www.helamalta.com/writers/leanne-ellul>>, an interview with the author published in Croation by Booksa <<https://booksa.hr/razgovori/intervju/vecinu-vremena-nalazim-se-izmedu-nade-i-cinizma>>, and a biography written by Helena Camilleri for Modern Poetry in Translation, Call the Sea a Poet: Focus on Malta (2023).
Poetry
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On your hand / Fuq idek
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On place / Fuq post
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On the death of me / (Untitled)
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plaster in your eyes / il-ġir jaqa’ f’għajnejk
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white privilege / il-privileġġ tal-abjad
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bubbles rising white beneath the surface / il-bżieżaq jissieltu għall-wiċċ
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hair roots / l-għeruq tax-xagħar
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how you come into the world / kif tidħol f’did-dinja
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the diaphragm of days / id-dijaframma tal-jiem
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the sea of white / il-baħar tal-abjad
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the atrophy of wounds / l-atrofija tal-ġerħiet
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the day you deflowered me / dakinhar li żverġnajtni
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a garden in May sunshine / il-ġnien fix-xemx ta’ mejju
