The Translation Workshop will focus on the translation and adaptation of plays between Catalan and Maltese, using English as a lingua franca, fostering cross-linguistic and cultural exchange.
The translation workshop is hosted by Sala Beckett in Barcelona from 13th to 16th October 2025.
PARTICIPANTS AND PLAYS
Lluïsa Cunillé (Catalan author)
Play to be translated from Catalan into Maltese: L’ase i la pedra
Marie Lou Camilleri: translator into Maltese
Dustin Langan: translator into English
Lon Kirkop (Maltese author)
Play to be translated from Maltese into Catalan: Qamar Għal Tnejn
David Cabrera-Sánchez: translator into Catalan
Kat Storace: translator into English
MORE ABOUT PLAYWRIGHTS AND TRANSLATORS
PLAYWRIGHT
Lluïsa Cunillé
Lluïsa Cunillé is one of the most important contemporary Catalan playwrights. Her plays have been staged in the most important Spanish venues, in both Barcelona and Madrid, and abroad (in 2020, for example, her play Massacre was staged at the Comédie Française in Paris).
At the beginning of the 90s, and for three years, she participated in the playwriting seminars taught by Spanish playwright José Sanchis Sinisterra at the Sala Beckett in Barcelona.
Read more
Since then, around fifty theatre productions have been staged of her original plays and dramatisations. Among the plays premiered, the most notable are: Rodeo (1992), Privado (1998), La cita (1999), Passatge Gutenberg (2001), Barcelona, mapa d´ombres (2004), Après moi, le déluge (2007), El carrer Franklin (2015) and Islàndia (2017).
She has received, among others, the following awards: the Born Prize (2010 and 1999), the National Prize of Dramatic Literature from the Spanish Ministry of Culture (2009), the Lletra d’Or Prize (2008), the National Theatre Prize from the Catalan Government (2007) and the Ciutat de Barcelona Prize (2004).
In 2005 she founded, together with Paco Zarzoso and Lola López, the Companyia Hongaresa de Teatre, and with Xavier Albertí and Lola Davó, La Reina de la Nit company (2008).
From 2007 to 2011 she was the resident playwright of the Teatre Lliure in Barcelona.
To have more information about Lluïsa Cunillé and to check which of her plays have been translated into other languages, you can have a look at Catalandrama.cat (https://www.catalandrama.cat/en/autor/lluisa-cunille-en/).
PLAYWRIGHT
Lon Kirkop
Lon Kirkop (1991) is a Maltese novelist, playwright, and multidisciplinary artist. His work often explores themes of identity, social media, queerness, and the blurred lines between personal and public life.
He studied Fine Arts at MCAST and later earned a Master’s in Printmaking from the Cambridge School of Arts. His background in visual art informs his layered approach to storytelling, blending words, image, and performance.
In 2021, Kirkop published his debut young adult novel Mitt Elf Isem Ieħor: HappyVeganGirlJules, which won the Literary Contest of Novels for Youth. The book resonated for its exploration of online and offline identities and the pressures of digital culture.
Read more
His theatrical work has also been widely recognised. After debuting at the Cospicua Short Play Festival in 2019, he went on to publish Fil-Ħajja li Jmiss u Drammi Oħra tat-Triq, which won the National Book Prize for Drama and earned him the Best Emergent Author Award in 2023.
Through both prose and theatre, Kirkop continues to challenge taboos in Maltese society, giving voice to youth and LGBTQIA+ experiences. His writing is marked by experimentation, empathy, and a deep engagement with contemporary realities.
In addition to his literary career, he co-hosts the daily magazine show Indigo on ONE with Josette Sciberras and produces a daily game show, extending his creativity into television.
TRANSLATOR
David Cabrera-Sánchez
Spanish conference interpreter with over ten years’ experience in international institutions, accredited by the European Union and the United Nations. Member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC). He translates and interprets from English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Maltese and Catalan into Spanish. Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Translation and Interpreting (Jaume I University, Castellón); Master’s Degree in Conference Interpreting (ISIT, Paris); Master’s Degree in Conference Interpreting (University of Malta, Malta); Executive MBA (Fundesem, Alicante).
TRANSLATOR
Marie Lou Camilleri
Marie Lou Camilleri has always believed that language is power and communication is key. A professional interpreter since 2017, she has worked both locally in Malta and, more recently, with the European Parliament and European Commission. But for Marie Lou, words are more than tools of translation—they are bridges that connect people, stories, and cultures.
Her journey has taken her through many fields: from teaching English in Spain to guiding students as a school chaplain, and from managing international events to leading sales strategies in the hospitality industry.
Read more
Today, she balances her career as a freelance interpreter with her studies in tourist guiding, never losing her love for learning and storytelling.
Service has always been at the heart of Marie Lou’s path. She has dedicated herself to missionary work in the Philippines, Peru, Albania, and most recently Paraguay, where she discovered again and again that the most universal language is love.
Outside of her professional and voluntary commitments, Marie Lou enjoys playing instruments, sharing music with others. She also finds strength and balance at the gym, where she embraces challenges much like she does in life—with determination, energy, and heart.
TRANSLATOR
Dustin Langan
Dustin Langan is a translator and interpreter. Born in Honolulu in 1974, he holds a Master’s degree in African History from Northwestern University. He speaks English, Arabic, French, Wolof, Spanish and Catalan and has translated books, academic papers, museum catalogues and plays, including the award-winning Archimedes’ Principle by Catalan playwright Josep Maria Miró. The author of Freedomization, a novel about the Iraq War, he lives in Barcelona, Spain.
TRANSLATOR
Kat Storace
Kat Storace is a Maltese editor, publisher and literary translator from Maltese into English. She holds an MA in Publishing from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing and has worked in numerous publishing roles in London, principally at Faber. She is co-founder of Praspar Press, a UK-based small press dedicated to publishing Maltese writing in English and in English translation. Her first full-length translation of what will it take for me to leave by Loranne Vella (Praspar Press, 2021), was shortlisted for the Society of Authors TA First Translation Prize.
Read more
Her translations have appeared in Modern Poetry in Translation, The White Review Writing in Translation Anthology and Hotel. She is the recipient of a PEN Translates award for her English translation of Loranne Vella’s prizewinning novel Before the Rocket, published by Praspar in September 2025.
She lives and works between Paris, Malta and the UK.