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GREEKS
IN AUSTRALIA
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GEORGE
ATHANASIOU
George
Athanasiou was born
in Melbourne in
1966. He has been
creative since
childhood. His first
poem ‘The School’
was published in the
Maribyrnong High
School magazine, in
1980. The wife of
the Greek Counsel
General gave him an
award for the poem.
Young George was
also obsessed with
science,
science-fiction and
fantasy. These
themes would later
make their way into
his writing.
He put poetry
aside during
adolescence and
young adulthood in
favour of pursuing
his love of
music¾performance
and song-writing. He
was lucky in his
teachers, having
been tutored by the
unforgettable Kostas
Tsikaderis. Later he
won a scholarship to
study singing under
Audrey Duggan, who
had worked with
Engelbert
Humperdinck. George
was a long-time
member of the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese
Choir of Melbourne
under Stelios
Tsiolas. His
involvement with the
choir gave him an
opportunity to
perform before the
Ecumenical Patriarch
of Constantinople,
at the time of the
Patriarch’s visit to
Melbourne, in 1996.
George
collaborated with
musicians, over a
long period of time,
recording songs. One
of his most
memorable
collaborations was
with Polish
composer, Joseph
Miller, who had
composed a musical
piece for PolArt,
the biggest Polish
art festival
celebrated outside
of Poland, when the
festival was held in
Melbourne, in 2015.
George wrote the
lyrics to the
10-minute piece,
which was performed
to a full house at
Deakin Edge,
Federation Square,
by two outstanding
opera singers:
soprano, Jolanta
Mielczarek, and
tenor, Alexander
Murer. Both of those
singers had had
distinguished
careers. Alexander
Murer had even
performed alongside
the immortal Luciano
Pavarotti.
George has
been active in the
Greek community from
a young age. He was
the representative
of the Greek
Organisation of
Young Australians
(GOYA) on the board
of the Hellenic
Youth Federation for
many years. He has
been a committee
member of the Greek
Australian Cultural
League since 2005.
George has a
Master of Education
from The University
of Melbourne. In a
whirlwind of
activism, he and
fellow student, now
Neos Kosmos
columnist and
renowned lawyer,
Dean Kalimniou,
attempted to save
the department of
Greek Studies from
closure. During his
wild uni days,
George also dabbled
in acting. He
appeared in The
Wog Boy as an
extra.
His passion
for poetry was
reignited, after he
attended the book
launch of Dean
Kalimniou’s
collection of poems,
Κῆπος Ἐσώκλειστος
("Garden Enclosed").
George had never
completely stopped
writing, but the
excitement of the
launch gave him
wings. “While out on
the town, I observed
people, situations
and confrontations
and went home and
wrote about them,”
he says. This is how
his first volume of
poetry, An
Observer’s Tales,
published in 2005,
came to be.
Singer-songwriter,
Anthea ‘Jewels’
Sidiropoulos, wrote
music to one of the
poems, ‘The Lucky
Country’.
George set about
putting together his
second volume of
poetry, Tales of
Light and Darkness,
published in 2008.
In 2012 he completed
the Diploma of
Professional Writing
and Editing at
Victoria University.
Since rekindling his
love affair with
writing, George has
won many awards for
his poems and short
stories. His work
has been published
in a number of
issues of the
Antipodes
periodical, as well
as in the anthology,
Southern Sun,
Aegean Light
(Australian
Scholarly
Publishing, 2011).
In 2018 George
published the
children’s book I
Think I have
Swallowed
Butterflies authored
by his wife, fellow
writer Monika
Athanasiou. The book
was illustrated by
artist Con
Constantinou. George
has a third
collection of poems
due out in 2019. He
is also working on a
chap book of
science-inspired
poems and a
collection of short
stories.
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George Athanasiou
A life of creativity
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