BOOK OF THE MONTH: ‘The Slow Horizon That Breathes’ by Dimitra Kotoula
The Slow Horizon That Breathes, the debut English-language collection by contemporary Greek poet...
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Category: Reading Greece
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Reading Greece
Reading Greece is a series of interviews featuring Greek writers and other stakeholders of the Greek
Distinguished Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos died today at the age of 89.![]()
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Vassilis Vassilikos was a prolific Greek #writer and #diplomat. He was born in Kavala to parents native to the island of Thasos. His father was an MP with the Liberal Party. He grew up in Thessaloniki, graduated from law school there, and moved to Athens to work as a journalist. Because of his political activities, he was forced into exile for seven years, following the coup of 1967. From 1981 to 1984, Vassilikos served as the director of the Greek state television channel (ET1). Since 1996, he has served as Greece's ambassador to UNESCO. In the 2019 Greek legislative election, he was elected MP with Syriza.![]()
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As an author, Vassilikos has been highly prolific and widely-translated. He has published more than 100 books, including #novels, plays and #poetry. His best known work is the political novel Z (1967), which has been translated into thirty-two languages and was the basis of the award-winning film Z directed by Costa-Gavras (with music by Mikis Theodorakis).![]()
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Z was published in Greece in 1966, and banned there one year later. It is based on an actual political assassination in 1963 in Salonika. The victim was Gregory Lambrakis, a socialist legislator and outspoken critic of the government. But Lambrakis’s killers could not have anticipated the public response. His funeral became a political event; by the time the cortege reached Athens, 400,000 people were following the coffin in silence. In the nation’s capital, the letter Z suddenly appeared on walls, sidewalks, posters–everywhere. Z stands for the Greek verb zei, “he lives.”
📚📚BOOK OF THE MONTH: "The Slow Horizon That Breathes", the debut English-language collection by contemporary Greek #poet Dimitra Kotoula, translated by Maria Nazos in close collaboration with the author, and introduced by A.E. Stallings, has just been published by World Poetry Books. ![]()
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In this selection from her first three books, published between 2004 – 2022, Kotoula engages modern Greek struggles, including troubled relationships, the financial crisis, motherhood, and the act of writing. Ιn the words of Karen Van Dyck, “writing in dialogue with the twentieth-century poets of ancient myth (George Seferis and Angelos Sikelianos among them), Dimitra Kotoula brings fresh language and a feminine touch to familiar themes”.
BOOK OF THE MONTH: ‘The Slow Horizon That Breathes’ by Dimitra Kotoula
www.greeknewsagenda.gr
The Slow Horizon That Breathes, the debut English-language collection by contemporary Greek poet Dimitra Kotoula, translated by Maria Nazos in close collaboration with the author, and introduced by A....
Award-winning journalist, cinematographer and writer Maria Louka spoke to Reading Greece about #gender and its potential in artistic creation, literature that has a place in what’s at stake in society and the transition from trauma to empowerment![]()
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"The kind of literature that interests and fascinates me is the one that has a place in what’s at stake in society. This comes out of the lives of oppressed individuals and returns to them, it questions class/ethnic/sexual privileges. This type of #literature, yes, I think it acts in an empowering way, it weaves a different reality on its own, where you can find softness, solace and oxygen to fight back against the widespread violence and the prolonged social melancholy".![]()
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Topos books / Εκδόσεις Τόπος
www.greeknewsagenda.gr
Maria Louka is a journalist and screenwriter. She has worked as screenwriter and editor-in-chief for Cosmote History, ERT, Vice, and independent documentary films. Currently she’s making a documen...