Landmark chronicle of Greek Australian writing: Dr Konstandina Dounis unveils new literary
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Dr Konstandina Dounis is set to release a new book, A New History of Greek Australian Literature, a comprehensive examination of over 1,000 Greek Australian literary works. The publication, which is in English and Greek, highlights the literary contributions of the Greek Diaspora in Australia, and will be launched Sunday, December 7, at the Greek Centre, by Professor Raul Sanchez-Urribarri and Dr Stephie Nikoloudis.
Greek Australian literary legacy: Honouring past luminaries
Some of the writers are posthumously honoured such as the late Antigone Kefala – a literary giant, and the Vasso Kalamaras a pioneering writer of poetry, prose and plays, who also is no longer with us. Others like, Maria Billilis-Fotiadis first published her poetry in local Greek Australian mastheads. Her work extended to co-founding of the Greek Cultural Music Group of Australia, in 1980, with the support of Creative Australia, then Australia Council for the Arts.
Talking to Neos Kosmos, Dr. Dounis shared her pride in presenting some of the depth of Greek Australian literary production. According to her colleagues and peers expressed amazement at this number of Greek writings she said.
“It makes me feel proud that I am part of a Diaspora community that produces this degree of literary activity.”
A New History of Greek Australian Literature comes with a dual focus, Dounis is introducing her book and unveiling a new venture: SeaRiver Press.
A long journey to publication
Dounis said the journey to this publication was arduous and complex. She first wrote a 5,000-word history of Greek Australian literature, about five years ago, intended for a major literary journal. She wanted to document the works diaspora writers from all backgrounds, “Italian Australian, Vietnamese Australian, and Jewish Australian writers and so on, sadly, a lack of funding, forced the project to be shelved”.
Undeterred, Dounis expanded her manuscript into a 25,000-word literary history which garnered interest from a mainstream publisher. Unfortunately, after “sitting on their desk for two years, the publisher ultimately decided not to proceed with the project” she said.
“At that point, I thought, ‘That’s the end of that.’”
Dounis was determined to see the project to completion. She took matters into her own hands and started her own boutique publishing company, SeaRiver Press.
“The name SeaRiver Press is a homage to Melbourne’s Yarra River, the Bay, and Almiropotamos in Evia”.
Celebration of Greek Australian writers
A New History of Greek Australian Literature promotes the works of Greek Australian writers across generations—first, second, and third said Dounis. Upon sharing her manuscript with respected colleagues, Dr. Dounis was met with astonishment. “My colleagues said, ‘My god, what sort of community are you that you’ve produced over 1,000 books? I wish I could meet these people—who are they?’”
In response to their calls,Dounis dedicated a section of the book to photographs of writers, “Each image tells a story, and is accompanied by a story”.
The book also features a preface by Professor Mimis Sophocleous, Director of the Patticheion Municipal Museum and former head of the Multicultural Studies Department at RMIT University. Sophocleous, an old friend and colleague, lauds her work as “a pioneering synthesis and a critical reappraisal of the literary production of the Greek diaspora in Australia.”
He even draws on Theodor Adorno’s observation that for those “forced to leave their homelands” …”writing becomes a place to live.”
Sophocleous talks of how Dounis situates Greek-Australian writers within broader themes of “exile, memory, and identity”.
“In her analysis, the act of writing is not merely a means of cultural preservation but a dynamic process of re-invention, through which generations of migrants and their descendants articulate belonging in the new world while remaining tethered to the ancestral one,” he writes.
A personal and scholarly perspective
Dounis brings rigor and personal experience to her work. Growing up in a first-generation migrant family, as Sophocleous suggests in his preface, she understands the displacement, cultural negotiation, and the duality of belonging to two worlds.
“Those of us who are still around, having faced the challenges of being born to migration and experiencing marginalisation, no longer carry that migrant chip on our shoulders. This publication is about exactly that: it honours the pioneers and those who have grown into a literary force because of them.”
Through A New History of Greek Australian Literature, Dounis not only shares the stories of these writers but also contributes to the broader conversation about diaspora identity and the role of literature in shaping cultural narratives.
*A New History of Greek Australian Literature, by Dr Dounis will be launched Sunday, December 7, 3.00pm at The Greek Community Building, Mezzanine corner of Lonsdale and Russell Streets, Melbourne.
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
