10-12 OCTOBER 2025
The Veranda with Bougainvilleas
15:20
BOOK PRESENTATION
With Katerina Neophytou
A FEW WORDS…
..When his car was no longer visible, Fotini took a deep breath and entered the house. On the veranda, the bougainvilleas had spread their bare branches along the entire length of the iron structure that supported them. She had planted them with her aunt the first year she started at Thileon. "I want something to remind me of the village, auntie." "Only flowers and trees can do that."
They bought two large pots and planted them. By the following spring, they had grown so strong that they were transplanted into the ground, tied some of their branches around the railing and made a makeshift net so that they could spread out over the wall. “The bougainvilleas will show you the arrival of spring. They need a lot of care and patience. When autumn comes for good, we will prune them with our appetite. The more you prune them, the stronger they become. But nothing can stop them from blooming if you take care of them. The pink one is yours and the orange one is for Anthousa, who will come to us next year.”
It was the end of February and the bougainvillea had not yet started to bloom. Spring was in no hurry to come that year.
A story of women in colonial Cyprus in the first half of the 20th century. Women who refuse to compromise, in the face of the obsessions and perceptions of an extremely conservative-patriarchal society, which is attempting a violent leap towards urbanization. (From the presentation on the back cover of the book)
CURRICULUM VITAE
Katerina Neophytou
She was born in Famagusta and for the first 7 months of her life she lived in Kato Deryneia, which administratively belonged to Famagusta at the time. She grew up in the Kokkines refugee settlement in Larnaca. In 1992 she graduated from the American Academy of Larnaca and in 1997 from The College of New Jersey in the USA, where she received a degree in Psychology. From 1998 to 2021 she worked at EDON and AKEL. She is married and has a son.
Constantia Sotiriou
Constantia Sotiriou was born in Nicosia. She is a graduate of the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Cyprus and holds a postgraduate degree in Middle Eastern History from the University of Manchester. She works at the Press and Information Office of the Republic of Cyprus.
Her novel “Aise Goes on Vacation” (Patakis Publications, 2015) was awarded the Athens Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the State Awards of Cyprus and Greece; the book “Voices from the Soil” (Patakis Publications, 2017) was shortlisted for the State Awards of Cyprus and Greece. Her novella "Bitter Country" (Patakis Publications, 2019) was shortlisted by the magazine "The Reader", shortlisted for the Greek State Awards, awarded the Cyprus State Award in the Short Story/Novel category and was nominated for the European Prize for Literature 2021. "Brandy Sour" (Patakis Publications, 2022) was awarded the Cyprus State Award in the Novel category, and was published in English (Foundry Editions, June 2023) and is in the process of being published in French (Editions Heloise d'Ormesson). Her most recent work published by Patakis Publications is the novel "The Head of Chatsworth" (2025). She was the winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Literary Prize for Europe and Canada, and the global winner of the competition for her short story “Death Customs” which is part of Bitter Country. She has also written the children’s book “John’s Blanket” (Teleia, 2024), as well as plays for independent stages and the Cyprus Theatre Organization. She has participated in short story anthologies in Cyprus and abroad. Her short stories have been translated into English, French, Japanese, Serbian, Danish and Italian.
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