Trevor Żahra (born 16 December 1947) is a Maltese novelist, poet and illustrator. He has published over 120 books in the

Maltese language Maltese ( mt, Malti, links=no, also ''L-Ilsien Malti'' or '), is a Semitic language derived from late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance superstrata spoken by the Maltese people. It is the national language of Malta and the only offic ...

since 1971.

Biography

Żahra was born on 16 December 1947 in

Żejtun Żejtun ( mt, Iż-Żejtun ) is a city in the South Eastern Region of Malta, with a population of 11,218 at end 2016. Żejtun is traditionally known as Città Beland, a title conferred by the grandmaster of the Order of the Knights of Malta, F ...

. He worked as a school teacher for over three decades, teaching

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and the

in government schools. He was married to Stella née Agius from 1971 until her death in 1989, and together they had two children called Ruben and Marija. In 1971 Żahra published his first novel, a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

book entitled ''Il-Pulena tad-Deheb'' (Maltese for "The Golden Figurehead"). Since then he has published over 120 books written in Maltese. He has written both children's and adult novels, as well as short stories, poetry, workbooks and translations. He is the best-selling Maltese author in history. Żahra illustrates his children's books with his own drawings. He also designed a set of two EUROPA

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s for

MaltaPost MaltaPost p.l.c. is the postal service company in Malta. The public limited company took over the postal services previously carried out by Posta Limited, and started operating on 1 May 1998. History MaltaPost p.l.c. was registered with the Malt ...

in 2001. Żahra has won multiple literary awards throughout his career, including Malta's national literary prize for a record 15 times. Books which have won prizes include ''Taħt il-Weraq tal-Palm'', ''Is-Seba' Tronġiet Mewwija'', ''Ħolm tal-Milied'', ''Lubien'', ''Taħt Sema Kwiekeb'', ''Provenz'' and ''X'Tixtiequ Jagħmel il-Fenek?'' He was also awarded the

Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika The Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika (Medal for Service to the Republic) is a medal of the Republic of Malta. The medal is awarded by the President of Malta, with the written approval of the Prime Minister of Malta, for distinguished service to M ...

on 13 December 2004. In 2020, Żahra was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature during the National Book Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahra, Trevor 1947 births Living people 20th-century Maltese poets 21st-century Maltese poets Maltese children's writers Maltese illustrators Maltese male poets Maltese male novelists Maltese schoolteachers Maltese stamp designers People from Żejtun Recipients of Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika 20th-century Maltese novelists 21st-century Maltese novelists Recipients of the National Book Prize