Jim Sakkas Jim Sakkas i(A11959 works by) (a.k.a. Dimitris Sakkas)
Born: Established: 1954
c
Greece,
c
Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: 1961
Heritage: Greek
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BiographyHistory

Jim Sakkas was born on the Greek Island of Lefkas and came to Australia with his family at the age of seven. He grew up in Melbourne, studied Arts at Monash University and later studied for a Diploma of Education at La Trobe University. From 1980 Sakkas taught English to adult migrants.

In 1987 he won the Australian/Vogel Literary Award with Ilias, the story of Ilias, a migrant from Greece who arrived in Melbourne in the 1920s seeking financial security far from home. This novel, subsequently published in 1988, speaks to Anglo-Saxon Australians by giving a voice to pre-war migrants. Sakkas's second novel Stella's Place was published in 1998.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Ilias North Sydney : Allen and Unwin , 1988 Z131470 1988 single work novel

'A young Greek fisherman, Ilias's first experience as a migrant in Australia in the 1920s is working on the docks as a 'skeb' labourer. He attempts to make his way, learning English from his workmates as he goes. With help from his Chinese friend Harry he buys a greengrocer's shop, but this venture later fails when his regular customers prefer to buy from an 'Aussie' further up the road. Pushed by prejudice and the Depression to a Victorian country town, he finds work in a timber mill. His young wife and three children settle down to a regular life. They are 'at home'.

'But Ilias longs for the sound and movement of the sea, and dreams of returning to his father's home as a success.

'Ilias is a powerfully written first novel of a young man's rites of passage in a land and time where assimilation is valued and multiculturalism unknown.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1987 winner The Australian / Vogel National Literary Award (for an unpublished manuscript)
Last amended 26 Jun 2007 15:15:56
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