Cypriot Australian poet Koraly Dimitriadis has won the Best Book of Narrative Poetry at the 21st Annual Best Book Awards, hosted by the American Book Fest in Los Angeles, for her poetry book Just Give Me The Pills.

Dimitriadis discovered her win just before boarding a flight to Bali, where she performed at the Ubud Writers Festival.

“I was really shocked to win,” Dimitriadis said.

“I know it’s not the Miles Franklin award, but it’s nice when your poetry is recognised by the industry.

“Although the book was first published in 2018, and then republished in 2023, as an illustrated edition with drawings by my daughter,” Dimitriadis told Neos Kosmos.

The American Book Fest competition promotes and awards indie and self-published works, drawing thousands of entries worldwide, according to a statement by Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of American Book Fest.

Dimitriadis, a self-published poet and founder of Outside The Box Press, rose to prominence in Melbourne’s performance poetry scene over a decade ago with her debut poetry book Love and Fck Poems, which became a bestseller at Readings Bookstore and was distributed by Woodslane.

Just Give Me The Pills tells the story of an unhappily married Greek Australian woman who finds the courage to leave her marriage despite cultural pressures to stay. It captures her journey from uncertainty to self-discovery and finding her feminist voice.

“Many people who have followed my journey know I married young and struggled to leave my marriage. Writing the poetry was how I liberated myself, how I found the strength to leave and survive and thrive.”

Dimitriadis recently launched a short story collection, The Mother Must Die, at the Greek Cultural Centre, Melbourne, and at the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Museum.

“I wanted Just Give Me The Pills to be the book I never had. I thought there was something wrong with me, that I wasn’t normal, for wanting to leave. I want to help other women with my book, for them to know that it’s okay to leave if you want to.”

Just Give Me The Pills includes Dimitriadis’ poem Yiayia mou (My Grandmother), which she turned into a short film that was an official selection for the Multicultural Film Festival and is streaming on SBS On Demand in Australia. The film has also been selected for various international festivals, including the Cyprus International Film Festival and the WRPN Women’s International Film Festival in the USA.A trailer to Dimitriadis’s book.