Writer and commentator Koraly Dimitriadis has launched a new symposium and day-long festival aimed at confronting taboo issues within multicultural Australia, with a particular focus on Greek and Cypriot women.
The event, titled Greek Women Speak, will take place on Sunday, 15 February, and is supported by the Greek Community of Melbourne. It will bring together Greek and Cypriot women from Melbourne and Sydney for a series of discussions addressing subjects often left unspoken within the community.
“I was tired of not seeing the topics I wanted to talk about presented at writers’ festivals or other talks and presentations,” Dimitriadis said. “And I’m not the only one that wants to talk about them. So I did something about it.”
Greek Women Speak will feature a diverse lineup of speakers, including queer social media creator Kat Zam, radio presenter Roula Krikellis (The KK Factor), Sydney-based TEDx speaker and workplace safety advocate Stefanie Costi, and executive member of the Keeping Women Out of Prison Coalition Eleni Psillakis.
The program will explore issues including substance abuse, incarceration, mental health, dementia, sexuality, divorce and single parenting, bullying, and violence against women. Additional contributors include poet Petr Malapanis, domestic violence advocate Joanna Galanis, visual artist and drug and alcohol support worker Stella Michael, lawyer and mediator Emily Highfield, and author and workplace sexual violence advocate Nikki Simos.
“I wanted to platform women we don’t often hear from in our community, Greek and Cypriot women,” Dimitriadis said. “And I don’t want to just speak to audiences, I want to converse with them.”
A key feature of the event will be the Australian premiere of TACK, the first #MeToo documentary produced in Athens. The award-winning film, directed by British-Greek filmmaker Vania Turner and produced by the Onassis Cultural Centre, follows Olympic sailor Sofia Bekatorou, whose testimony helped spark Greece’s MeToo movement.
“I watched the film at the Limassol Documentary Film Festival in 2025 and nearly fell off my chair,” Dimitriadis said. “All I kept thinking was that I have to bring this film to Australia.”
Dimitriadis, who will host and moderate the symposium, will also launch her fourth poetry collection, That’s What They Do, and perform selected works on the day.
Among the speakers, domestic violence advocate Joanna Galanis said she would be sharing her experience as a survivor of family violence.
“My story reflects the experiences of many women who remain silent, not because they lack truth, but because they fear judgment, shame and being unfairly blamed,” Galanis said. “No woman is responsible for the violence inflicted upon her. Accountability lies solely with the perpetrator.”
Kat Zam said she hoped the event would prompt broader reflection within the community.
“In 2026 I’d like to see the Greek community embracing their own LGBTQ+ Greeks,” she said. “Why does ‘philotimo’ only exist within our community when it suits people?”
The event brings together voices from across generations and backgrounds, with organisers describing it as an opportunity for open discussion and reflection on issues that are often left unspoken within the community.
Dimitriadis said she hoped the day would encourage meaningful dialogue and challenge long-held assumptions, while creating space for stories that are rarely shared publicly.
“I was a little afraid doing something like this,” she said. “But when I started getting people interested in sponsoring and supporting the endeavour, I thought, maybe I should not be afraid. Maybe we need this.”
Greek Women Speak is supported by the Greek Community of Melbourne, The Estate of Ania Walwicz, Toorak Law, Grazing With Stella, Arc Up Australia, Outside The Box Press, Dingo Drama TV and the Greek-Australian Film Society.
Registrations here.
