Miriam Calleja is a Maltese poet, translator, editor, and workshop leader based in Birmingham, Alabama. A Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the 2025 table//FEAST literary prize, her work explores intimacy, language, and connection. Her collections include Pomegranate Heart, Stranger Intimacy, and Come Closer, I Don’t Mind the Silence. Calleja’s writing has been published widely and translated into over ten languages. She is co-founder and Vice President of PEN Malta and regularly leads writing workshops in the U.S. and Europe. She believes in storytelling as a tool for unity and poetry as a space for shared language. @miriamcalleja
How did living in Malta shape your view of the world and the kinds of stories you’re drawn to? I was born and spent 40 years on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. I grew up bilingual and am now trilingual, speaking Maltese, English, and Italian. Malta is steeped in history, surrounded by the sea - an entity which is beautiful and scary in equal measures. My dreamscapes, even after living in the US for more than 3 years, often involve the sea and underground spaces.
In your younger years, which books opened your imagination in a lasting way? I was a voracious reader who loved library trips and borrowed as many books as they'd let me. I was precocious in my reading and sometimes raised eyebrows. I guess the rules were a little more slack at the time. My parents encourages my reading although it did mean I was lost and am still lost in a book somewhere. I started with Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, and Ann Martin. I was curious about any book I could get my hands on really.
Describe your typical writing day. I don't have a "typical" writing day. When I'm writing poetry I tend to immerse myself in all sorts of creative practices and write every day for a month or so. I edit weeks and months later. Although I do write by hand and some editing might happen when I am transcribing the pieces.
Tell us about the creative process behind your current writing project. My current writing project is a collaboration with poet Cathy Ferrell. We participated in Tupelo's 30/30 Writing Challenge last October and responded to each other's poetry daily for the entire month. We are currently meeting as often as our schedule permits to work on editing the poems together. It has been such a nourishing time - I highly recommend it. Cathy and I haven't known each other for very long, but we really bonded after we organized a weekend writing retreat at my home. That's when we came up with this idea. And since we are similar in temperament and the same age, we quickly discovered we were preoccupied by similar themes, which emerged in our writing of course. We write about (early!) middle age, hormonal storms, our frustrations and deep desires. We are also both into visual arts so we have been supporting each other in our individual creative growth. I'm excited for the outcome. It's going to be spectacular.
Do you keep any kind of daily writing or idea journal? I keep several, and since I'm a freelancer, these may contain workshop notes, ideas, things I've heard or overheard, names of books/films/series I should look up, poetry, reminders, to-do lists, contact details, and so on.
How do you research and what role does research play in your writing? I take a soft focus approach to my research. I start with a specific goal in mind, but I also keep in mind that this is transient and changeable. I let myself explore, roam through library books, fall down rabbit holes. I take written notes and use sticky notes. I'm not afraid to highlight or mark books.
Which writer, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with? Anais Nin. I'd let her deceive me.
Do you draw inspiration from music, art, or other disciplines? Yes, all and everything inspires. Music, art, nature, conversation...
AI and technology is changing the ways we write and receive stories. What are your reflections on AI, technology and the future of storytelling? And why is it important that humans remain at the center of the creative process? I appreciate the uses of AI in technology, medicine, engineering, and the multiple ways in which it can predict and make our lives easier. I don't think it has a place in storytelling and creativity, nor will it be able to emulate the way a human creative thinks and associates and creates original work every time.
Tell us about some books you've recently enjoyed and your favorite books and writers of all time. I've been making my way through 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster and I am enjoying his style very much. I'm a bit late to the party, but I will keep reading his work. I like reading Margaret Atwood, Louise Gluck, Jenny Erpenbeck, Anais Nin, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Carmen Maria Machado, Elif Shafak, Annie Ernaux, Sharon Olds, Caroline Bird, Ross Gay, Ada Limon.... I could go on and on with writers. I love films by Pier Paolo Pasolini and David Lynch. Music by David Bowie.
What role do arts, culture, and the act of creating play in your life and work? I work in creativity with my company creativework.ink, so to me creativity is also problem-solving and I believe we all need to practice it like a skill we want to maintain. It is how we make like easier and more beautiful. I am practical about writing but dreamy about life, I romanticize it because it helps me get through the harsh and cruel realities of the political situation. I conduct workshops with corporations not only to make teams feel more motivated and happy at what they do, but also to help them approach problems in a creative way. I firmly believe that this skill will infiltrate their personal lives, their relationships, their hardships. I trust that creativity will improve their mental health. Imagine a world where everybody grew their creative muscle and how much better it would be. We all need to remember how to play. We all need to get back that childlike curiosity and negotiate our lives through this sense. We need to get back to trusting our intuition. I think the world would be a much better place.
