Stephanos Stephanides

Stephanos Stephanides
Born Stephanos Stephanides
1951
Trikomo, Cyprus
Occupation Academic professor, poet, translator, critic, ethnographer, documentary film maker

Stephanos Stephanides (born 22 October 1951) is a Cypriot-born author, poet, translator, critic, ethnographer, and documentary film maker. In 1957 he moved with his father to the United Kingdom and since then he has lived in several countries for more than 34 years. He returned to Cyprus in 1991 as part of the founding faculty of the University of Cyprus where he holds the position of Professor of English and Comparative Literature.[1] Stephanides’ dominant and literary language is English, and he is also fluent in Greek, Spanish and Portuguese. His early migration from Cyprus to the United Kingdom and subsequent work and travel in many countries has been influential in shaping the transcultural character of his work. As a young lecturer at the university of Guyana, he became deeply interested in Caribbean literary and cultural expression and his anthropological work with the descendant of Indian indentured labourers in Guyanese villages and sugar plantations marked the beginning of a lifelong interest in Indian culture and the Indian diaspora, his creative and academic writing span issues of cross-culturality, dislocation and migration. Hail Mother Kali deals with issues of a broken postcolonial society of racially mixed Indian and African descendants in Guyana.

Early life

Stephanides was born in Trikomo a village located in the North-east part of Cyprus. When he was eight years old, his father took him from Cyprus to the United Kingdom. Following his parents separation when he was still an infant, he lived with his grandparent in the village. His work documents warm memories of village life of that time that period, which was also marked by the emergence of the EOKA organization and the struggle against British Colonial Rule. His father settled in Bristol but Stephanides was left in Manchester for two years with his uncle's family. He subsequently went to school in Bristol. In his teenage years he developed a love for literature, writing poetry, and learning foreign languages when he was at school and was encouraged by his teachers to pursue literary studies at University. Stephanides graduated from Cardiff University, Wales, in 1973, and obtained a PhD from the same University in 1981.

Life and work

He left the United Kingdom in 1976 and lived and travelled in Greece, Spain, and Portugal for two years before receiving an appointment with the University of Guyana in 1978 where he stayed for six years. As a result he became immersed in Caribbean and Brazilian culture. He moved to Washington DC in the mid-80s where he worked as a professional translator and conference interpreter, researcher and writer. In 1985 he was awarded a grant by the American Translators Association to translate a book on British Guyana written in Portuguese in the 19th century by a Portuguese writer. In 1988 he made a documentary film on Kali worship in Guyana called Hail Mother Kali that was short-listed for an award for excellence by the Society of Anthro-Journalism. In 1989 he was awarded the poetry award of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association (AAA)[2] for poetry written during field work in Guyana. In 1991 he returned to Cyprus accompanied by his US-born wife and daughter.[3] Stephanides cites a variety of authors from differing cultural and social backgrounds as influences in his work. He cites Derek Walcott as an influence in the English language, drawing inspiration from him through the way he brings together the Creole idiom into with the classical. He also cites Constantine P. Cavafy as a favourite. He was a friend of the Greek-Cypriot writer Niki Marangou, translating her poetry into English and maintaining a close literary relationship with her until her death.

Contribution to Cypriot literature

Stephanides serves as an advisory editor for the publication of Cadences, a journal of literature and the arts in Cyprus which is published by European University Cyprus. He has served twice as a judge for the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2000 and 2010. He was made Fellow of the English Association and Cavaliere of the Republic of Italy for promoting the Italian culture in Cyprus. In his recent documentary entitled No Man's Land he managed to unite poets from different cultural and linguistic background bringing together speakers of minority languages, such as Catalan, Lithuanian and Portuguese. Through his initiative the Meridian Iowa Literature Magazine has published a special issue on Cypriot writing. The Routledge Encyclopedia for postcolonial writing has also enlisted an entry for Cypriot literature.

Selected bibliography since 2000

Monographs

Edited collections

Literary translations

Chapters in Books:

Journal articles

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ http://www.hum.ucy.ac.cy/ENG/people/stephanides.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.aaanet.org/sections/sha/sha-prize-winners/
  3. ↑ http://www.aaanet.org/sections/sha/sha-prize-winners/
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