Francis Ebejer

Who was Francis Ebejer?

Francis Ebejer was a Maltese dramatist and novelist. Ebejer studied medicine at the University of Malta between 1942 and 1943 before abandoning the course to work as an English-Italian interpreter with the 8th Army of the British Forces in Tripolitania, North Africa. After the war he became a teacher and on completion of a course at St Mary's Training College, Twickenham, Middlesex he was appointed a primary school head teacher in Malta, a post he held till 1977.

Ebejer wrote all his novels except one in English. His final novel, The Malta Baron and I Lucian was published in 2002, nine years after the author's death. It can be considered a twin of Requiem for a Malta Fascist. Both novels treat of fascism and of the Second World War. The war dominated Ebejer all his life.

Other novels by Francis Ebejer are A Wreath of Maltese Innocents, Wild Spell of Summer, In the Eye of the Sun, Come Again in Spring: Requiem for a Malta Fascist, and Leap of Malta Dolphins.

Ebejer was the leading Maltese dramatist of the second half of the 20th century. In his groundbreaking plays he introduced a deep introspection of Maltese society, using an elegant style that proved him to be a master of the language.