“NOVEL ENCOUNTERS”
a festival celebrating Greek and Irish fiction
18-20 October 2017, in Corfu, Greece
“Novel Encounters”, a festival celebrating Greek and Irish fiction, was hosted by the Durrell Library of Corfu in association with the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting of the Ionian University in Corfu.
A volume of essays and readings issuing from the festival, edited by Paschalis Nikolaou, has been published (2020) by Cambridge Scholars Publishing:
The festival presented four Irish novelists and four Greek novelists in readings from their work and in presentations on the theme “Writing and Identity“.
The participating novelists:
⁕ Christos CHRYSSOPOULOS‘s novels include Laura Jackson’s London Day (2008) which received the Academy of Athens Award. He has exhibited photography and audiovisual works, and one of his early literary works,The Parthenon Bomber, will be published in English in the summer of 2017.
⁕ Katy HAYES, from Dublin, is a playwright, theatre director, film critic and author of three novels: Curtains, Gossip and Lindbergh’s Legacy. She has taught on the University of Iowa Summer Program and currently teaches creative writing at University College Dublin where she was previously Writer-in-Residence.
⁕ Panos KARNEZIS was born in Greece in 1967 and has lived in England since 1992. He published Little Infamies, a collection of short stories, in 2002. His novel The Maze (2004) was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award and was followed by The Birthday Party (2007) and The Convent (2010). His most recent novel is The Fugitives (2015).
⁕ Deirdre MADDEN is from County Antrim. She is the author of eight novels, including One by One in the Darkness, Authenticity and Molly Fox’s Birthday. She has twice been shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and teaches Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin.
⁕ Mia GALLAGHER is the author of the award-winning Hellfire (2006) and Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland (2016). She also tutors and edits emerging writers and has written for television.
Mia Gallagher is the author of the award-winning Hellfire (2006) and Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland (2016). She also tutors and edits emerging writers and has written for television.
⁕ Sophia NIKOLAIDOU was born in Thessaloniki in 1968. She teaches literature and creative writing and has published two collections of short stories and three novels, including Tonight We Have No Friends which won the 2011 Athens Prize for Literature. Her second novel was shortlisted for the 2012 Greek State Prize for Fiction and was translated into English as the The Scapegoat in 2015.
⁕ Paraic O’DONNELL‘s debut novel, The Maker of Swans, was named Amazon Rising Stars Debut of the Month in February 2016, shortlisted for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards and was Editor’s Choice title for February 2016 in The Bookseller.
⁕ Ersi SOTIROPOULOS is the author of ten works of fiction and has been a fellow at several institutions, including Princeton University and the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Zigzag through the Bitter Orange Trees (translated into English in 2005) won the Greek National Prize for Literature. What’s Left of the Night (2016) is about Cavafy’s stay in fin de siècle Paris. She was a participant at the inaugural Durrell School of Corfu in 2002.
The festival also included a full academic programme on Greek and Irish drama and on translation of Corfiot writers.
The festival was funded by:
The Embassy of Ireland in Greece
Literature Ireland
The Rothschild Foundation
The British Council
and supported by:
The Ionian University
Corfu Arts Foundation
Society of Corfiot Studies
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