Cirrus@Austlit

'Fathers From the Edge - a companion book to Mothers from the Edge - is a fascinating collection of narratives that examines the complex relationships between Greek-Australian writers andf their fathers. Touched with pain and humour, these stories will delight not just the Greek-Australian Reader, but anyone interested in how people living between cultures untangle the cmplexities of dual lives and pave the way for understanding and compassion.' (Publication summary)

Comments on the trilingual edition of The Island, with French translation by Marie Gaulis and Greek translation by Helen Nickas.

'Antigone Kefala: a writer’s journey is edited and introduced by Vrasidas Karalis and Helen Nickas. It includes a selection of interviews, reviews and essays on the life and works of Australian poet and prose writer Antigone Kefala, as well as an illuminating autobiographical piece by the poet herself.

'This diverse biographical and critical material included in a single volume gives a fascinating insight into this writer – a Greek from Romania – who has been living in Sydney since 1960 and has made Australia her home. Prominent literary critics contributing to this volume include Sneja Gunew, Ivor Indyk, Judith Brett, Nikos Papastergiadis, Judith Rodriguez, Dmetri Kakmi, Anna Couani, Paul Kane, Gail Holst-Warhaft and many others from Australia and elsewhere in the world. There is also a section on translation of her works into four European languages, reflecting Kefala’s origins. ' (Publication summary)

'Max: The Confessions of a Cat is a modern fable whereby the protagonist Max - a philosophising cat - is observing the humans around him with much perspicacity and wry irony. As humans do not seem to pay much attention to 'other' voices, Max is determined to change things.' (Publisher's blurb)

The novel follows Melina Pappas as she pursues her studies at university. Melina was born abroad and raised on the island - described vaguely, but with a resemblance to New Zealand - and thus occupies an in-between space in society which affects how she is perceived. As Catalina Rebus Segura describes, "She is passionate and shows it in her mannerisms and speech. However, islanders are defined as cold and indifferent as their body language is subdued to their detached speech." 

"In The Island, Kefala focuses on perceptions and the consequences of interaction as well as on verbal and non-verbal communication."

Source: "Language and Bilingualism in Antigone Kefala’s Alexia (1995) and The Island (2002)" by Catalina Rebus Segura.

"The poems in this book were selected to reflect the diasporic experience. Antigone Kefala, a Greek from Romania and living in Australia, has lived her life moving between (or within) different languages, cultures and countries. As the editor’s note states, the poems capture artistically and intellectually the two most significant phenomena of the twentieth century: wars and migration. The selection was made from all previous collections by Kefala: The Alien, Thirsty Weather, European Notebook and Absence."

Taken from: http://owlpublishing.com.au/poems-a-selection.html