A half-humorous, half-desperate series of poems from the early months of the pandemic lockdown. Sweet and sour solitude, walks through an empty city, long nights punctuated by the munchies. One of the main leitmotifs is the reawakening of the teenage musician within me, after 30 years without touching a piano due to childhood trauma.
Written in Twanniż, ċjoè Mediterranean English with Maltese and other tongues of Bonnevoie, the Italo-Portuguese quarter of Luxembourg. Preface by José Luis Correia, illustrations by Veronika Borissova.
Published by D’Breck, launched (in absentia) at the Centre Català de Luxemburg and the Walferdange Book Fair, November 2024.
Available from Ernster (Luxembourg) and at Kixott (Malta).
“Who is Ottu?
A story as long and winding as his bright orange tentacles. Here it is in brief.
Ottu and I first met at Wied iż-Żurrieq, southern Malta, in early summer 2019. He was supposed to be a gift for a loved one. After accompanying us on a road trip from Bratislava to the Croatian islands and back, I forgot to take him out of the car, and he thus ended up on the front seat, all the way down to Malta and later up to Luxembourg. For the following year, Ottu lived on my mapmaker’s desk in Bonnevoie.
Fast forward to the tectonic shock of the pandemic. Ottu kept me sweet company during lockdown in Bonnevoie, and became my DJ through the long chilled nights, as I slowly but surely slipped into hyperacusis and bipolar mania.”
Slide to read extracts from the book.
