Mark Camilleri
Mark Camilleri M.Q.R. (born 2 February 1988) is a Maltese historian, writer, blogger, and publisher. Camilleri served as chairman of the National Book Council from 2013 to 2021. Following this, he became an outspoken critic of the ruling Labour Party and of prime ministers Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela. Early career Camillieri studied history at the University of Malta, where he graduated BA (Hons) in 2009 and MA in 2012. In his student days he was an active member of Moviment Graffitti. In 2009, he published Alex Vella Gera's short story Li Tkisser Sewwi (trans. Fix What You Break) in his student newspaper Ir-Realta'''. Vella Gera's short story is a first person male narrative on female objectification and sexual exploits. The publication was promptly banned from the University of Malta and Camilleri was indicted to court along with the author for publishing obscenities and pornography. This arrest took place during a time when old censorship laws were being applied across the arts sector. This led him to organize a pressure group called Front Against Censorship which lobbied for the removal of censorship laws from the arts. Camilleri and Vella Gera were released from all charges by Maltese courts. Following their release, censorship laws in Malta were removed in 2016. During the following year, the Front Against Censorship lobbied for the removal of criminal libel, which was subsequently removed from Malta's code of laws in 2018. For his work against government censorship, Camilleri was awarded a Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika (M.Q.R) in 2013 by Malta's President George Abela. National Book Council In 2013, Mark Camilleri was appointed Executive Chairman of Malta's National Book Council. During his tenure he introduced Malta's first Public Lending Rights scheme, began Malta's participation at the London Book Fair, and founded the Mata Book Fund. Camilleri has also pushed for the exportation of Maltese literature, describing Immanuel Mifsud and Walid Nabhan as two of the most representative contemporary Maltese authors around the world. After the 2019 Malta political crisis Camilleri became very critical of the government owing to complications arising from his own position on Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder investigation. An example of this is evident in the cancellation of the National Book Prize Ceremony, which was due to be held at the Office of the Prime Minister in November. This followed a request for his resignation from his public service post after insulting senior government officials. He refused to resign and issued a formal apology. His contract with the National Book Council was not renewed in 2021 and he claimed political discrimination, demanding a lifetime achievement award. Political views Camilleri has identified himself as a "Marxist" and a "leftist" Publications His output as a historian includes the books A Materialist Revision of Maltese History 870-1919 (2016, SKS, ) and A Materialist Revision of Maltese History 1919-1979 (2018, SKS, ). Camilleri also accused in his work that Superintendence of Cultural Heritage had deliberately concealed archeological evidence to gloss over Malta's Islamic history and called for the publication of