Claudia Gauci
- Malta -
Claudia Gauci (1976) grew up in Tas-Sliema, a small town on the island of Malta. She has lived and worked mainly on the island though she has had also the experience of living and working both in London and in Luxembourg. Today, she is lecturer of Maltese Literature at the Junior College, University of Malta.
Claudia writes mainly in Maltese and has started writing at the age of 16. She has published two collections of poetry; Sekonda qabel tqum/A Second before waking (Skarta, 2012) won second prize in the National Book Award. It is also a bilingual collection. In 2022 she published her second collection entitled Max-Xatt tat-Tamarisk, published by Kotba Calleja. She has also translated various children’s books into Maltese, winning the National Book Prize in 2019 with one of them, namely Magni taż-Żmien, published by Merlin Publishers. She has also attended various Poetry Festivals around the globe and for twelve years has been an active member of Inizjamed, an NGO that promotes literature in the Mediterranean and beyond.
You can read more on www.claudiagauci.com
Claudia Gauci’s debut poetry collection, Sekonda qabel tqum / A Second Before Waking (Skarta, 2012), emerges as a bilingual tapestry of poetic expression, underscoring her engagement with the wider literary community. The collection not only showcases her personal voice but also highlights creative and translation-based collaborations with notable local poets, including Maria Grech Ganado. These poems serve as a poetic chronicle of Gauci’s formative years, capturing the evolution of her psyche from the ages of eighteen to twenty-five. The latter half of the collection reveals a deepening maturity, as the themes shift towards reflective explorations of childhood, relationships, and mortality.
Adrian Grima, drawing on the insights of Fabrice Midal, describes Gauci’s poetry as “the most free relationship with the real.” This observation speaks to the lyrical and immersive nature of her work, where sensorial language transforms verses into poignant, emotionally charged moments. Gauci’s poetry fosters an intimate communion with the world, opening a window into the fragility of human experience. Her verses resonate with an emotional depth that invites readers into a shared contemplation of existence.
In her second collection, Max-Xatt tat-Tamarisk (Kotba Calleja, 2022), Gauci continues her exploration of recurring themes—love and childhood, loss and family, the environment and death. One particularly striking feature of this collection is its unconventional approach to titling; each poem is presented as a question. These titles function as invitations to reflect, to embark on a journey, or simply to experience a fleeting moment of curiosity. The poems themselves may serve as answers, partial responses, or may deliberately evade resolution, allowing the reader’s interpretation to unfold organically.
The collection’s title, Max-Xatt tat-Tamarisk, transports readers to the Sliema promenade, a familiar place for the poet, where many of these verses were conceived. At the heart of this setting stands a striking Tamarisk tree, a source of both aesthetic and symbolic inspiration for Gauci. The tree’s remarkable ability to thrive in a saline environment through internal osmosis serves as a powerful metaphor for the endurance and adaptability of memory, language, and human experience. Much like the Tamarisk tree, Gauci’s poems capture and preserve fragments of lived realities, bringing them to life on the page.
Her poetry zooms in on domestic spaces and everyday interactions, uncovering the layered significance of seemingly ordinary moments. A kitchen conversation, a seaside reflection, or a nostalgic visit to a place imbued with personal history—each of these scenes is rendered with a striking immediacy. At the same time, her work does not shy away from confronting harsher realities, such as the relentless urban overdevelopment that threatens the essence of life itself. Through her evocative storytelling and masterful use of language, Gauci weaves together the personal and the universal, inviting readers to navigate the shifting landscapes of memory, loss, and resilience.
This essay contains an excerpt written by Teo Reljic that can be found on https://www.helamalta.com
Poetry
-
Shall we rest a bit before we catch the last ferry back? / Nistrieħu ftit qabel naqbdu l-vapur tal-aħħar?
-
How many sugars? / Kemm zokkor?
-
Something I meant to tell you on Saturday night. Where were you? / Ridt ngħidlek xi ħaġa s-Sibt filgħaxija. Fejn kontli?
-
Do I look better with long hair or short? / Xagħri twil jew qasir jixraqli?
-
What did you say, the day he bought you a pastry? / X’għidtlu dakinhar li xtralek pasta?
-
Why don’t you take some paracetamol? / Għax ma tiblax tnejn panadol?
-
Shall we play hide and seek? / Nilagħbu noli?
-
Why are you up so early? / Għaliex qomt kmieni?
-
What will the north wind reap? / X’se jaħsad ir-riħ mit-Tramuntana?
-
Why did you ask me for a pen and paper? / Għaliex staqsejtni għal karta u lapes?
-
Slather factor 20 every hour or factor 50 once and for all? / Krema kontra x-xemx factor 20 u tidlek kull siegħa jew factor 50 u tinsa?
