Dreams of Clay Drops of Dew: selected poems

Title: Dreams of Clay Drops of Dew: selected poems
Author: Dina Amanatides
Second author: Konstandina Dounis (translator)
pp 224, pbk
ISBN 978-0-9805321-3-5
Language: English
Genre: Poetry
Publication Series: Writing the Greek Diaspora
Year of publication: 2011
RRP: $25.00

Dina Amanatides has been a prolific writer within the Greek-Australian community for over fifty years. She has published numerous books of poetry and prose, all in her beloved Greek language. This publication, which contains two hundred poems, including her very short poems known as “Scattered Thoughts”, and translated into English by Konstandina Dounis, seeks to acquaint the English-speaking readership with the beauty of her work and the wide range of her thematic preoccupations.

The translator, Konstandina Dounis, concludes her introduction thus:
“What fuelled my absolute commitment to bringing the project to fruition was a passionate desire to give a voice to the marginalised, most particularly to migrant women writers, thereby facilitating their entry into the Australian mainstream literary arena – enabling them to weave new colours and textures into Australia’s literary tapestry.”

The author: Dina Amanatides was born in Meligala, a township in Southern Greece. After completing her secondary studies in Athens, she migrated to Australia in 1958, and has since been living in Melbourne with her family. Her literary output – written exclusively in the Greek language – covers poetry, short stories, ‘scattered thoughts’, and plays. For her contribution to Greek-Australian literature and letters she has received various prestigious awards in Australia and in Greece. Her poems, short stories and scattered thoughts have been published in many newspapers and magazines in Australia, Greece, the USA and Canada, and have been included in numerous anthologies. She is a vital presence in the Greek literary community of Melbourne.

The translator: Konstandina Dounis was born in Melbourne, Australia, her parents having emigrated from the Greek island of Evia in 1955. She is a well-known academic, an experienced literary translator, and a poet in her own right. She has edited and/or translated several books including From Sapfo to Sappho (RMIT 1994), Re-telling the Tale (Owl 1994) and Zorro (Pisces 2006). Her own bilingual book Poems for my Mother was published by Olive Grove Publishing in 2009. Konstandina is currently completing her PhD on Greek-Australian women’s writings within the English Department at La Trobe University in Melbourne.