The Antipodes periodical celebrated 40 years of existence on Sunday with the winners of the Greek Australian Cultural League’s annual literary compeition results being announced on the day. The periodical honoured Dr Maria Herodotou whose career as a distinguished educator and academic has spanned more than 37 years. She is currently teaching Modern Greek at Latrobe University.
The winners of the literary competion include: Entries From Australia: Writing in Greek: Poetry-Gerasimos Lyberatos for his collection “How can I explain?” -Πώς να εξηγήσω; Short story: Christina-Iatrou-Soitaridis “The godly atonement-Η θεία εξιλέωση”. Writing in English: First prize in poetry Nick Trakakis for his collection “That’s when I saw your brute…”; Short story: first merit Paul Kiritsis “Three little pigs”. Entries From overseas: Poetry in Greek: First prize: Nektaria Maragianni for her collection “Loneliness”; Poetry in English: Yiannos Labis “The Foreigner”: Short story in the Greek language: Maria-Gousia-Rizou “Τίτλοι τέλους”.
The Panarcadian Association of Melbourne “O Kolokotronis” in North Melbourne was packed with devotees of the literary word and of the arts from across the Greek Australian community. In her speech, Consul General for Greece in Melbourne Eleni Lianidou commended the League for its visionary and long-standing work. George Vrakas was the MC again this year and welcomed all with a brief introduction and encouragement for those in the audience who were not members to consider joining. Kyriakos Amanatides then took the audience on a journey through the history of Antipodes from cover to cover, through the various incarnations of the periodical to its present form. Volume 59 pays homage to the past, in that its front and back cover feature a myriad of covers that had graced previous issues.
Dr Christos Fifis launched the periodical and read extracts from Volume 59. Cathy Alexopoulos, President of the GACL, spoke about the role the periodical has played in the Greek diaspora and indeed in the promotion of Hellenism in Australia.
“The enduring existence of the periodical Antipodes is a credit to the outstanding contributions and the excellent work of the successive editorial committees, and the visionary work of the administrative committees of the GACL,” she said.
Ms Alexopoulos has this to say about the subject of volume 59 – Dr Maria Herodotou: “Maria is an energetic, soft-spoken, individual who has been a great advocator for the Greek language, history and culture. We, from the Cultural League are very proud to dedicate this periodical to her.”