BOSTON — In Boston, this year’s “OXI” day will be dedicated to women writers from Greece. On October 28, Boston University will host “Inspiring Greek women writers and the importance of their translations”, a literary symposium with five participants. Kelly Polychroniou, Lecturer in the Department of Classical Studies at BU, Vilelmini Sosoni, Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpretation at Ionian University – Greece, and Karen Emmerich, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the Princeton University will present two eminent authors from contemporary Greece: Amanda Michalopoulou and Kallia Papadaki to Boston audiences.
The internationally acclaimed author of eight novels and three collections of short stories, Amanda Michalopoulou has received numerous awards, including the Revmata Prize (1994), the Diavazo Prize (1996), the Athens Academy Prize (2013) and the international prize for literature by NEA. – United States (2008). Combining Greek literary tradition with postmodern transgression, Michalopoulou’s works focus on crucial social and existential issues of our time.
(Photo provided by Kelly Polychroniou)
Screenwriter, screenwriter, poet and novelist, Kallia Papadaki received the Diavazo New Writers Award (2010), the National Book Center (CNL) Development Grant (2012), the Clepsidra Young Author Award (2016) and the European Union Prize for Literature (2017). Creating at the crossroads of different art forms, Papadaki is an awakened poet who listens to the heartbeats of society and reflects on its changes and transformations.
Both authors will read excerpts from their books and discuss some of the issues with faculty and the public. Participants will then have the chance to meet the writers and experts at a reception.
(Photo provided by Kelly Polychroniou)
Authors will sign copies of their books, and those who register in advance will receive a free copy thanks to the generosity of the BU Center for the Humanities and the Ted Kyrios Memorial Fund. The event, which is free and open to the public as well as Boston University faculty and students, will be held at Photonics Auditorium (PHO 206), 8 St. Mary’s Street, Boston, MA from 5:30-7:00 p.m., and is generously sponsored by BU Center for Humanities, BU Philhellenes, Department of Classical Studies, European Studies Program, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, Department of Languages and Literatures of the world and the MFA program in literary translation. .
The following reception is sponsored by Greek 4 Kids, whose director is Kleanthi Mavrogiannaki.