A Maltese artist and poet has penned a prolific poem inspired by the tragic life of Sion Grech.

Matthew Schembri’s short story “mona lisa | karnival ieħor” is an experimental short story inspired by the murdered transgender Maltese woman Sion Grech, who, as Schembri found out “would wait for the carnival to dress and feel like herself”.

The opening lines foreshadow the dark tones:

“my name is Mona

And by the end of this novel I will not be alive.”

Lovin Malta spoke to the artist behind the work.

“This short story has a long story behind it,” Schembri said.

“In 2022, my short story da’ kollu għax (all this because) was chosen as one of the best short stories in the A Sea of Words writing contest, a contest organized by IEMed and the Anna Lindh Foundation. I’m mentioning this experience because it really gave me the confidence to start writing my first short story collection for adults.”

Due to the collection’s main themes, he continued, he had to write five more short stories to have a total of six, and, when the team of Aphroconfuso approached him to write something for their online journal, I still had to write the final story.

“I knew that I wanted to write a short story about a transgender protagonist, transgender violence and the queer myths about the Mona Lisa. But something was missing.”

So, Schembri, put the story aside and worked on other projects.

“Then, I watched Jon Mallia’s podcast with Rita Borg, Sion Grech’s sister. At one point (7:16-31), Borg says: “kienet tistenna l-karnival biex tilbes ta’ mara” and “id-daddy tal-karnival kien iħallih, għax kien jgħid li l-karnival” (7:28-31). It struck me that Grech had to wait for this particular feast – one so known for not being your true self – to truly be herself.”

Now he had all the puzzle pieces in his hands.

I wrote the first few drafts of mona lisa | karnival ieħor in April of 2023, during the first week of my writing residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. I sent the final draft to Aphroconfuso’s editors – Loranne Vella and Joe Gatt – who loved the story and were very kind to help me edit it before publishing.

Everyone can read mona lisa | karnival ieħor for free here.

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