Georgia Xenophou was born in the village of Pasio, Corinthia, Greece, the eldest of six children. Her passion for creative writing became apparent in primary school. For a period during World War II, she assisted her uncle (an army nurse) and the village medical doctor with the medical care of seven local communities. Although her interest in medicine continued to grow, her gender and the economic climate afforded her only limited education options. She studied Home Economics specialising in dressmaking in Athens, and also completed studies with the Université de coupe et de haute couture de Paris.
Following arrival in Australia in November 1956, Xenophou settled in Adelaide in 1957, where she was employed by the Myer Emporium as a couturier whilst studying English and dress design. She married and the first of her children was born in 1959. In 1969, Xenophou was employed by the Department of Adult Education to teach garment construction and English language to migrant women. She gained a Diploma of SecondaryTeaching (1979) from the Adelaide College of Arts and Education and a Bachelor of Education (1981). She developed her innate writing skills by undertaking courses in English Literature at Adelaide University. She taught English to migrant women in the Adult Education Department for five years, and for over fifteen years taught languages (including matriculation Greek) and Social Science in secondary schools. Xenophou was appointed to the Ethnic Schools Board (1991-92). With a team of selected teachers, she was involved in writing curriculum for students in Greek community schools.
Xenophou's creative works and articles began appearing in Greek language newspapers and in various magazines from about 1980. She received a prize for poetry in the Cypriot Writer's Competition in 1989. Her work has been read on Greek and Cypriot community radio programmes in South Australia and interstate and she has been involved in various Multicultural Week activities. She read her poetry at various cultural community occasions. She was secretary of the Multicultural Writers' Association (1989-91), and a member of the Fellowship of Australia Writer (S. A.) and the S. A. Writers' Centre. She was a committee member of the Multicultural Writers Association, serving as President from 1989-1991. She was the founder of the Association of Greek-Australian Writers and Artists.
Xenophou was awarded a grant for a project on Greek-Australian women, which she published in English as Greek Women in South Australian Society 1923-1993 (ed. Alison Dolling, 1994). In 1988 she received a prize for poetry in a Cypriot writers' competition organised through the Greek-Australian Cultural League and the journal Antipodes.
In 1999, a poem 'In Memory of Rigas Feraios' won her a prize from the International Society of Greek Writers and Arts. She ran an educational program on Radio Doryphores once a week. After retiring from the field of Education, Xenephou concentrated more on her writing. She wrote 'The Darling of the Fisherman' (unpublished in 2020) in Greek and in English.
Xenophou has received numerous awards for her writing and was twice funded by the Greek government to travel to Greece to receive awards and speak at conferences: in 1997 by the Greek Secretariat and in 1999 with the International Society of Greek-Australian Writers and Artists. In 2004 she spoke at the International Conference of Nea Ariadne, a prestigious Greek literary magazine.
From 2005 to 2013, her poetry was published by a Chinese-English bilingual literary organisation, The International Poetry Translation and Research Centre. Selected poems by Xenophou were translated and published in Chinese. At the request of the organisation she also undertook the task of reviewing numerous poems by other artists.
In 2012, she was honoured by the International Society of Greek-Australian Writers and published her novels The Prodigal and A Matter of Image.
