@davidaflo

Illustrator, mother of 2, #AmWriting #HistoricalFiction. Obsessed with anything from #history

Joined June 2012
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243Media
#HistFicMay 31. I am focusing on my current project. I have read & watched many #WWII stories but #Malta’s part is often overlooked. I’d like to fill that gap & maybe succeed in sharing the story. Then ppl can read the book while on #holiday here.😎Sun, sea & #HistoricalFiction
Grand Harbour, Malta, from Saluting Battery in Valletta, myself feeling fresh after a swim, Blue Lagoon, Comino island, and a nice villa with pool in the heart of Nadur village, Gozo.

ALT Grand Harbour, Malta, from Saluting Battery in Valletta, myself feeling fresh after a swim, Blue Lagoon, Comino island, and a nice villa with pool in the heart of Nadur village, Gozo.

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Here’s a collage of my #writing companions struggling through life. #WritingCommunity
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Top 100 for my war novel The Tune of the Sea. 🥳Thank you @prize_novel It’s great news after all the hard work. Looking forward to the feedback.
Cheshire Novel Prize@prize_novel2 Sep 2025
If you made our top 100 we will send an email out directly after the longlist announcement so please do check your junk/spam folders as we do not print the top 100 titles. If you make our top 100 you may say you were in the top 100 and name your work!
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Brava Miriana 👏🏻 They censored our language 🇲🇹 but on the night, the entire audience will fill the gap and serve #Maltese. #Eurovision2025
Eurovision News
@EurovisionNewZ14 Mar 2025
🇲🇹 Serving ha! Miriana released the final version of “Serving” (Kant Re-named”! She will represent Malta in #Eurovision 2025!
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Got there in the end #WritingCommunity🥂Here’s to all writers writing ‘The End’. And those close to it too, and those at the start, or at the middle.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 78. This site in #Gozo served as a lighthouse since the 17th c. This more recent version lit up for the first time in 1853 with a system of oil lamps & brass plates. Today it’s also an atmosphere watch for the #Mediterranean
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Not #writing today. #WritingCommunity
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 77.A Carpenters’ Guild existed in #Vittoriosa #Malta since the 16th c to service the Knights’ fleet. In the 19th c the guild built this oratory dedicated to St Joseph and it survived blast from nearby direct hits in #WWII. Today it serves as a museum
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 76. According to legend, this hole at the Inquisitor’s Palace in #Vittoriosa #Malta was a well embedded with swords used for torture. The truth is that through the 16th & 18th centuries, it served as a communal latrine for all the prisoners.🙃
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 75 French Grand Master de Valette led the #Malta victory in the Great Siege of 1565. He prayed in a chapel in #Vittoriosa between skirmishes and later left his hat & sword in thanksgiving. His name remains tied to Malta’s capital #Valletta.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 74 At noon each day a gun is fired at #Valletta’s Saluting Battery. The timekeeping service started in 1824 for vessels entering port & was discontinued in 1923 with the advent of telegraphic signals. It resumed in 2004 thanks to @WirtArtna NGO.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 73 In April 1798 Napoleon planned the invasion of #Malta in this letter. On 9th June his fleet anchored off Malta requesting the Grand Master to ‘resupply water’ 😏Within a day the islands fell to the new French Order after 268 yrs of Knights’ rule.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 72 Strained relations between the bishop of #Malta & the Knights of St John in the 16thc, led the Pope to appoint his permanent delegate to the island in 1574 - the Roman Inquisitor. For 2 centuries, this was his seat in #Vittoriosa.
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#Vittoriosa #Malta at night 🥰
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 71 In May 1942, #Malta’s only official #WWII traitor & spy, showed up on a dinghy beneath these cliffs. Caught in rough weather, he was rescued by a patrol boat but was recognised by a childhood friend. He was executed for treason later that year.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 70 This square in #Valletta captures 4 eras: the Auberge d’Aragon (right) built in 1571, also the venue for #Malta’s Independence negotiations in 1964; a memorial to the 1798 revolt vs the 🇫🇷; the 1844 Anglican Cathedral (left) & a British phonebox.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 69. The Lascaris War Rooms were the nerve centre for #Malta’s defence coordination during #WWII. In July ‘43, the complex welcomed Generals Eisenhower & Montgomery & other Allied leaders for the launch of Operation Husky.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 68 The biggest legacy of the early medieval Arab rule in #Malta is the Maltese language, but beautiful artefacts survive like Maymuna’s gravestone. The Kufic script records the girl’s death in 1174.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 67 Construction of #Malta’s capital city, #Valletta, started in March 1566. Situated on a hill, most of the city’s peripheral streets are sheer slopes or stairways. Quite challenging if you’re going up.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 66 In February 1883 #Malta’s locomotive train departed for the first time from #Valletta and reached the outskirts of #Mdina in 25 minutes, reducing the journey time by 2.5 hrs. The service shut down 48 yrs later in March 1931, never to resume.
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#Fun #Maltese #History #Fact 65 The Library was the last building erected by the Knights in #Malta to store the Order’s collection dating from the 12thc. Finished in 1796, 2 yrs before Napoleon’s invasion, it fell to the British,new lords of the islands,to inaugurate it in 1812.
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