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about

Who am I?

 

A poet and an environmentalist of Maltese origin, now based in France. I started writing poetry and short stories at the age of ten and been campaigning in favour of a better environment for over sixteen years.

 

My poetry is marked by scraps of fragments, teasing rhythms and subtle colours, at times postmodern and minimalist. I am the founder and coordinator of the Luxembourg Poetry Group.

 

Sea major is the winning poem in the London Independent Story Prize (LISP) in 2023. In 2022, Habiba  was highly commended by poet Joelle Taylor, judge for the Ledbury Poetry Competition. In 2021, the poem The Calling  featured in PEN International and PEN Malta's A Poetry Memorial for Daphne Caruana Galizia. The poem Ruts  placed third in The Mattia Family 15th International Poetry Competition in 2013. Twelve inky years  received a special mention by the Welsh Poetry International Competition in 2018, whilst La Moselle  was chosen as an editor's choice in the 2020 Hammond House International Literary Prize, awarded by the University Centre Grimsby. In 2020 I served as a judge for Stories of the Nature of Cities, New York.

For over nine years I worked in the European Public Administration, and for over ten years I worked within the Maltese public sector in the environmental and sustainable development sphere, holding the position of Secretary to the boards of the Strategic Environmental Assessment, the Sustainable Development Network and the Guardian of Future Generations. Along the years, I worked closely with NGOs and represented Malta's interests at various fora, amongst which as a member of the Maltese delegations at the UNECE Steering Committee on Education for Sustainable Development in Geneva in 2011 and at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. I am an avid environmental campaigner and was much involved with Friends of the Earth Malta campaigns, for good measure.

 

I undertook a MSc in Sustainable Development at the Imperial College and SOAS Univeristy and a BA in Geography at the University of Malta. I have just finished a BA in English with Philosophy at the University of London – Goldsmiths and Birkbeck, whilst working on my first poetry collection. 

When I'm not writing I'm...

dabbling in calligraphy, sewing, a slave to chocolate (preferably vegan), feasting on good wine and supporting organisations in the fields of environmental and social justice. I am always keen to roam the forests, rivers, towns and fortifications of the Grande Région, not to mention the landscape and seascape of the Maltese Islands.

Karina Fiorini bio

"How refreshing to read a poet who relies on the honesty

of word and line break" 

  The Mattia Family International Poetry Competition

competitions
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Competitions

Publications

Sea major – Poetry winner – London Independent Story Prize (LISP) 2023

Habiba– Highly commended – by poet Joelle Taylor, judge for the Ledbury Poetry Competition 2022

La Moselle  Editor's Choice Survival 2020 International Literary Prize by Hammond House Publishing 

Twelve inky years – Special mention – Welsh Poetry International Competition, 2018

Ruts – Third Place – The Mattia Family 15th International Poetry Competition, 2013

Grigal's Mouth – 2023 Modern poetry in translation - Call the Sea  Poet: Focus on Malta

 

Mariana, she is keeping them – 2023 Querencia Press Winter 2023 Anthology

 

Soil dermis – 2022 – Ecocene, Cappadocia Journal of Environmental Humanities

 

Nights – 2021– About Larkin, Journal of The Philip Larkin Society 

The Calling – 2021  PEN International and PEN Malta

Samsa unfurled – Scintillas: New Maltese Writing 1, eds. Jen Calleja & Kat Storace - 2021 - Praspar Press

 

La Moselle – SURVIVOR – Award Winning Poetry Anthology – 2020 Hammond House Publishing

Graveyard  & The Geology of Baden-Württemberg  2020 Poetry Lab of Anthologies of Young Poets, Greece

The Geology of Baden-Württemberg, A Simple Matter of Conviction  & Pleasure ground 2020  Les Cahiers Luxembourgeois

Urban scents 2018 Guttural Magazine

Yellow Banks, Last Night  & Rapa Nui 2018 Isles of the Left Malta

Death of the Travel Agent 2017 Rapsodia Magazine

Graveyard 2016 The Luxembourg Review

Azure Day 2015 Delano Magazine

Various poems 2015 & 2016 Rosport Life blog

Warded Off – 2012 Issue Eight Bare Hands Poetry

Other contributions

Interview London Independent Story Prize (LISP) 2023

Various contributions 2012 to present day Storja u Kultura Ħaż-Żabbar, Malta

 

J. M. Turner's 'The Malta Grand Harbour' painting 2017 BOZAR EXPO Brussels/Malta 

Article on water as a resource 2011

Times of Malta

poetry

Shoreditch, October 2015

 

Ah! Legs entwined this blue morning,

pumpkin walls, sheets, curtains, windows

we gaze at spires, finger papers, sit in TXs’, mouth May-fairs

city-soles in a hurry syruping pavements

an array of faces

 

new kingdoms, or old for sale or to let

fresh bread rolls, tired wooden shutters stir a makeover,

turf against turf

brick against brick

bespoke spaces sit on seized grounds

 

as Murdock’s barbers groom the Owl and the Pussycat

Albion’s omelettes feed domestic hunger,

a breather in the park clears away tension

whatever it takes

todays sweet talk tomorrows

events and projects

Events & Projects

Poetry workshop on editing and lineation, hosted by Writers Who Talk asbl  February 2024

Winners, and Anthology Launch, London Independent Story Prize (LISP)   February 2024

Poetry reading, Friends of the Earth Malta Ċine'Ambjent 2019

Gut Feeling, a multidisciplinary evening of poetry in Valletta, Malta under the auspices of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, under the artistic direction of Dr. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci The Strada Stretta Concept September 2016

Poetry reading, Café littéraire Le Bovary, Luxembourg 2016

Coorganised as coordinator of Luxembourg Poetry Group with poet Antoine Cassar the ‘Landlocked, Sealocked – Poésie de Malte, Luxembourg et au-delà Festival des migrations, des cultures et de la citoyenneté, Luxembourg March 2016

Ara City Radio, Happy Hour - It could be verse! with writer Wendy Winn and poet Shehzar Doja  2016

Founder and coordinator of the Luxembourg Poetry Group  2015

Coordinated and delivered Stirred Words a poetry evening held during the Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale December 2015

Coorganised monthly poetry evenings entitled Bleeding Fine Lines, Valletta from April to October 2014

Visual representation of three poems entitled Woman - Collective Art Exhibition by Women in Business, Malta, 12 January to 25 January, 2014

 

Coorganised the poetry workshop targeting unpublished writers, together with the collaboration of The Writers Club Malta and poets Maria Grech Ganado and Norbert Bugeja  2011

activism

Activism

Karina Fiorini activism

I am a longstanding activist when it comes to environmental and sustainable campaigns, even as a member of Friends of the Earth Malta. During previous years I coordinated and volunteered in key campaigns such as the Big Ask which was calling for a new climate change law in the UK and other countries, amongst which Malta. I also steered and worked on climate projects pushing for climate change considerations at a public and national level.

I am the only Maltese national who has been awarded a scholarship by REC - The Regional Environmental Centre in Szentendre, Hungary to participate in the Training for Young Environmental Leaders in 2006.  

 

For several years I volunteered as a land rescuer and first aider with The Malta Red Cross working in my home country, helping the general public and distressed refugees disembarking on Malta at all hours.

I also volunteered time to home-teaching and supervising children who came from difficult family backgrounds.

contact

If you would like to get in touch or work together on a project, you can reach me here:

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Images by Kenneth Borg

All images by Kenneth Borg

@ Karina Fiorini - All rights reserved

@ 2021 Karina Fiorini - All Rights Reserved

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