The celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Lord Byron’s death continued at the University of NSW with an event launching a new book by Stella Sorotou called “Byron: A Lord’s Monologue. A Poetic and Iconographic Journey” last Thursday May 9.
The presentation of the new book was part of an event at UNSW which delved into the immense legacy of the English Romantic poet and his strong ties with Greece.
The book serves as a collection of poems and art, having been released in combination with paintings Sorotou made of Lord Byron.
The event at UNSW featured discussions from both Sorotou and Dr Vassilis Adrahtas, the Convenor of Greek Studies at UNSW, as they each explored the significance of Lord Byron, who famously participated in the Greek War of Independence during which he died in 1824.
In addition to the speeches, the program also included the reciting of poems from the book by Dion Vertzayias and Jacqueline Comino (a student from Stella Sorotou’s Beginner’s class at St George Church, Rose Bay).
These included the poems “Συνοικία Βύρωνα”, “Αν… ” and “Ελευθερία” (recited by Dion Vertzayias) as well as “Ο Μονόλογος ενός Λόρδου”(recited by Jacqueline Comino).
The event featured further participation from Sorotou’s students, with Eleni Cole acting as MC and Kyriakos Theodoulou singing the song «Θα βρεθούμε ξανά» (“We will meet again”).
Among the guests in attendance included Dr Natalia Ortiz Ceberio, Convenor of Languages (on behalf of the Head of the School of Humanities and Languages UNSW, Professor Taylor Sherman), and Costa Vertzayas, President of the Foundation of Hellenic Studies UNSW.
