9-11 OCTOBER 2026
I'm leaving for a little while and a lifetime
12:15
Discussion
Maria Kafkaridou, Maria Kyriakou, Maria Tziaouri Hilmer
I never learned to leave.
Maria Tziaouri Hilmer, Short Stories
Event title on October 10, 2026:
I'm leaving for a short time, even for a lifetime
A discussion with theater and philologist Maria Kafkaridou, director Maria Kyriakou and writer Maria Tziaouri Hilmer on human relationships on the occasion of the release of the latter's book I Never Learned to Leave (Kedros Publishing, 2026).
Book description
In the book I Never Learned to Leave includes thirty-two short stories of various themes. The short stories narrate with density in description key moments in people's lives and events that have decisively marked their being. The heroes are confronted with time, limits, defeats, victories, losses, personal and social crisis and their deep need for acceptance and love, contact and communication. All the stories converge in terms of the fragility of life and the difficulty of modern people to distance themselves from people and situations that cause them pain, as the protagonist characteristically points out in the last short story of the collection, which also gives the title of the book.
Maria Kafkaridou
He was born in Limassol in 1979.
She studied Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology at the University of Athens (2001). She did postgraduate studies in Theatre in Education (MA Drama and Theatre Education) at the University of Warwick (2003). She worked as an animator at the Royal Shakespeare Company- Department of Theatre in Education and in various schools in England (2002-2003).
From 2001 to 2009 she worked as a theatre educator for people with special needs (NGO PROSVASI) representing Cyprus at the International Biennale, VII Theatre Meetings “Therapy and Theatre” (2004). At the same time, she collaborated with ETHAL (2006-2008) as an animator in the children’s theatre workshop.
He is one of the founding members of the Aioras Theater and the Versus Theater. He participated in Polina Thrasyvoulidou's children's performances "The Moon Thief" (2006, "A Storyteller for Tears", "The Secret of the Blackboard" (2009).
Together with Maria Kyriakou and Panos Bartzis, they created the group One/Off (2006). They participated in the performances “Little Boxes” (2007), “Where is my love?” (2008), “Madame B” (2009), “Forget me not” (2010) (representation of Cyprus at the Avignon Off Festival – July 2011), “Φ” (2011) in texts and directed by Maria Kyriakou and “Angelasta: Logion logion geneaitsies” (May – June 2018), in a text by Stella Voskaridou Economou and directed by Maria Kyriakou.
Participated in the fifth and sixth editions of the Play Program / PLAY#5 - PLAY again! (Jan.2021-Dec. 2021) and PLAY#6 (April 2026 - March 2027), as a Text Editing Consultant.
From 2004 to 2008 he worked as a Theatre Specialist in public secondary schools and from 2008 to the present day he works as a Philologist in secondary schools.
Maria Kyriakou is a director living and working in Cyprus. She holds a BA in Publishing (Oxford Brookes University, England) and an MA in Theatre Studies (Open University of Cyprus).
He is a founding member of the award-winning group One/Off (2007-2024).
He has directed, among others, the following plays: “The Mountain” by Louisa Papaloizou (À Vendre Group, 2026), “Voices from Chernobyl” by Svetlana Alexievich (À Vendre Group, 2025), “Words in the Mouth” by Kieran Hurley (Ferefono Group, 2022), “Oedipus Tyrannus” by Sophocles (THOK, 2022), “The Lover” by Harold Pinter (Side Effect Group, 2021), “Out of Necessity” (Fresh Target Theatre, 2021), “Things of My Own” by Andrew Bovell (THOK, 2020), “Angry Youth” by John Osborne (Versus Theatre, 2019), “Saved” by Edward Bond (Satirical Theatre, 2018), “The Family’s Omission” Coleman" by Claudio Tolkatsir (THOK, 2017), etc.
In 2011, her work "(forget-me-not)" participated in the Avignon Off Festival (Group One/Off).
In 2015, he was honored with the Directing Award for the play "Stallerhof" by Franz Xaver Kroetz (One/Off & ETHAL Group, 2014) at the Cyprus Theatre Awards 2013-2014.
He has also collaborated with the Croatian Shadow Casters Group as co-creator in the visual arts projects "Damnatio Memoriae Wall Displays" (2011) and "Famagusta: Map of Memory" (2012), as well as in the creation of the web-doc "On the Verge of Reason" (2013).
He has also translated the works: "My Favorite Laundromat" by Antonis Georgiou (in English), "Reclaim the Night" by Charlene James (in the Cypriot dialect) and "Red Sky Morning" by Tom Holloway (in Greek).
Maria Tziaouri Hilmer was born in Cyprus (1972). She studied Literature and Music in Athens and completed postgraduate training in Cultural Management in Germany, organizing cultural events in Munich and Berlin. Since 2009, she has lived and worked in Cyprus as a philologist in public education. Her poems and short stories have been published in print and online magazines. She has participated in literary festivals in Cyprus. Her first book of short and long prose entitled A Line Between Us , (Ed. To Rodakio- Athens 2020) was included in the short list of the Cyprus State Awards (2020). In 2022, her second book (Ed. Shakespeare ) entitled Missing Meter was published. I Never Learned to Leave is her third book and was published in July 2026 by Kedros Publishing. Her short stories and poems have been translated into German and English.