9-11 OCTOBER 2026
Direct Orient
15:25
Discussion
Eleni Kefala and Erina Charalambous
Eleni Kefala talks to Erina Charalambous on the occasion of her book Direct Orient, which was recently honored with the State Poetry Prize of the Republic of Cyprus and the George Athanas Poetry Prize of the Academy of Athens.
Erina Charalambous was born in Paphos in 1980. She lives in Nicosia. She has published the poetry books Plektan (Thrace 2020) and TAY: twenty-eight gusts and a war communiqué (Thrace 2022). Her first collection of short stories, Special Lessons (or Sense of Things), is expected to be published by Estia Publications in 2026.
Eleni Kefala is a poet and university professor. She has published three books of poetry and
has been honored twice with the State Poetry Award of the Republic of Cyprus, most recently
recently for Direct Orient, which also won the George Poetry Award
Athanas of the Academy of Athens. Her collection Chronorrafia is published in English,
German and French, while its English translation by Peter Constantine was honored with
the Elizabeth Constantinides Award of the American Society for Modern Hellenic Studies and
was featured in the New York Times' "Globetrotting" column. Kefala was born in
Athens, grew up in Cyprus and studied in Nicosia and Cambridge. He lives in
Scotland, where he teaches Latin American literature at the University of St Andrews.
Erina Charalambous was born in Paphos in 1980. She lives in Nicosia. She has published the poetry books Plektan (Thrace 2020) and TAY: twenty-eight gusts and a war communiqué (Thrace 2022). Her first collection of short stories , Special Lessons (or Sense of Things), is expected to be published by Estia Publications in 2026.