Tanja Cilia

Tanja Cilia is Maltese, Mediterranean, and European - in that order. She is a Maltese writer, journalist, columnist, editor, translator, and storyteller whose literary life has stretched across more than five decades. She describes herself simply and emphatically as Maltese, Mediterranean, and European—in that order: an identity that runs through much of her writing and informs her observations of culture, history, society, language, religion, and everyday life.

Cilia began writing for Allied Newspapers at the age of fourteen, beginning a career that would eventually encompass newspaper columns, opinion writing, television criticism, features, essays, fiction, children's stories, editing, proofreading, translation, and ghostwriting. For many years, she was a familiar voice in The Times of Malta, where her columns ranged widely across Maltese public life. Her writing has frequently examined the peculiarities of Maltese culture and language, the local media, social questions, politics and public discourse, and the small details of ordinary life that reveal something larger about the society in which we live.

Her interests, however, have never been confined to Malta. Cilia has written about international culture and traditions as well, bringing the perspective of a Mediterranean writer to subjects far beyond her own shores. Her work on the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, for example, combines cultural observation with personal connection and research, reflecting the curiosity that characterizes much of her nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in both Maltese and English and has reached readers through newspapers, magazines, websites, literary publications, and international outlets.

As a writer, Cilia has always resisted being confined to a single form. Her personal writing archive includes essays and opinion pieces alongside poetry, children's literature, cultural features, interviews, travel writing, and pieces of fiction. Her work includes playful linguistic pieces as well as more serious examinations of social and cultural questions. This breadth is characteristic of a writer who has spent a lifetime observing the world rather than simply writing within one prescribed genre.

Her experience extends behind the byline as well. Cilia has worked as an editor, proofreader, translator, and ghostwriter, giving her a perspective that encompasses both the creation of a manuscript and the craft of shaping someone else's words. Her professional profile describes more than forty-five years of experience as a newspaper columnist, writer, ghostwriter, and editor. Colleagues have also recognized her as an editor who combines professionalism with sensitivity toward the writers she works with.

Cilia's literary work has also appeared in anthologies of Maltese writing, including Scintillas: New Maltese Writing 1, placing her work within the broader tradition of contemporary Maltese literary culture. She has written for younger readers as well, including children's stories, demonstrating the same willingness to move between forms and audiences that has characterized her career from its earliest years.

A recurring feature of Cilia's writing is her attention to language. As a Maltese writer working across Maltese and English, she has spent decades observing how language changes, how words are borrowed and misused, how translation can illuminate or distort meaning, and how the way people speak can reveal their assumptions about themselves and their society. Her newspaper writing has repeatedly returned to questions of language and communication, particularly in broadcasting and journalism.

Her writing is also marked by an independent streak. Cilia has described herself as apolitical, while her columns have nevertheless engaged directly with public affairs, media standards, corruption, cultural identity, and the responsibilities of journalism. Her work following the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, for instance, reflected on journalism, political divisions, public discourse, and the dangers faced by those who challenge established interests.

At the heart of Cilia's work, however, is a fascination with people: their contradictions, habits, traditions, prejudices, kindnesses, absurdities, and unexpected connections. Whether she is writing about Malta, another culture, a television programme, a social issue, a childhood memory, a linguistic curiosity, or an apparently insignificant everyday encounter, she approaches her subjects with the instincts of a lifelong journalist and storyteller.

Today, Cilia continues to write independently, sharing stories, essays, poetry, and reflections with readers online, including through her Substack presence. Her continuing work reflects the unusual longevity of a career that began in adolescence and has evolved alongside Malta's changing cultural and media landscape.

For Moji Press, Cilia represents something particularly valuable: a writer whose relationship with the written word predates the modern publishing landscape by decades. She has written before blogs, before social media, and before the current explosion of independent digital publishing. Yet she continues to use new platforms to do what she has always done—observe, question, remember, and tell stories.

Her work with Moji Press also carries a charitable purpose. Proceeds from her publications are intended to support a community of nuns, allowing her writing to serve not only as an artistic and literary endeavor but also as a means of giving back. In that sense, her work brings together several strands that have accompanied her throughout her career: writing, community, compassion, and a belief that words can have a life beyond the page.

After more than half a century of writing, Tanja Cilia remains what she has always been: a keen observer of Malta and the wider world, a defender of the value of language, and a storyteller with an enduring curiosity about people. Her work here is for donations to a group of nuns.