To mark its 25th anniversary, the Food For Thought Network is presenting a series of celebratory events highlighting diverse voices, contemporary storytelling, and the evolving global experience of Hellenism.
Among these events is a special online Q&A, presented in collaboration with the Greek Australian Cultural League:
Voices of many worlds: Greek women authors and the reimagining of Hellenism
The online event will take place on Sunday, 31 May 2026, featuring award-winning author Emily Tsokos-Purtill in conversation with Marilyn Tsolakis, moderated by Dr Konstandina Dounis.
Event times
- Australia (AEST / UTC+10): 7:00 p.m.
- Greece (EEST / UTC+3): 12:00 p.m. (midday)
- London (BST / UTC+1): 10:00 a.m.
- South Africa (SAST / UTC+2): 11:00 a.m.
- Brazil (Brasília / UTC-3): 6:00 a.m.
The discussion will centre on Matia (UWAP, 2024), winner of the 2025 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for Emerging Writer.
Through themes of migration, memory, belonging, and intergenerational change, Matia explores how Hellenism is continually reimagined through the experiences of women across time and place — a question that has remained at the heart of FFTN’s work for the past 25 years.
This special conversation will offer audiences an opportunity to reflect on literature, identity, diaspora, and the evolving voices shaping contemporary Greek cultural narratives around the world.
Registration is essential to receive the Zoom link: https://www.trybooking.com/DKVBJ
Meet the Panellists
Emily Tsokos-Purtill
Emily Tsokos-Purtill is a third-generation Western Australian writer of Greek heritage. Her father’s family is from the island of Evia, while her mother’s family is from Kastellorizo and Rhodes.
Emily lives in Perth/Boorloo, Western Australia, on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people. She has also lived in Shrewsbury, London, Vancouver, Paris, and New York. Emily studied at the University of Western Australia and the University of British Columbia in Canada, and worked as a lawyer in Perth and Paris.
Emily’s essays, fiction, and poetry have been awarded and published in anthologies and journals in Australia and the United States. Her short fiction has appeared in Westerly, Griffith Review, and Science Write Now. In 2024, Emily won the Griffith Review Emerging Voices Competition for her essay Know Thyself, a meditation on genetic inheritance and mythology.
Emily’s debut novel Matia (UWA Publishing) was released in October 2024 and won the 2025 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for Emerging Writer.
In 2026, Emily was awarded a Mid-Career Fellowship at the Centre for Stories, as well as an Association for the Study of Australian Literature / Copyright Agency Writer’s Fellowship.
Marilyn Tsolakis
Marilyn Tsolakis was Head of English at Methodist Ladies’ College from 1995 to 2008, leading the department for 14 years. Across a career spanning more than three decades, she has demonstrated excellence in the teaching of English and Literature, following studies at the University of Western Australia, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma in Education.
Marilyn is a co-author, editor, and publisher of Kastellorizo: My Odyssey for Friends of Kastellorizo, a bilingual children’s book celebrating cultural heritage.
In 2009, she became Coordinator for Friends of Kastellorizo, contributing articles to the Filia quarterly journal, monthly eNews, Neos Kosmos, and Megisti Messenger. She has also played a key role in organising international student exchanges between Australia and Greece.
In recognition of her outstanding service, Marilyn was awarded Kastellorizian of the Year in 2023, honouring her enduring commitment to promoting the cultural heritage of Kastellorizo and its global community.
Dr Konstandina Dounis (Moderator)
Dr Konstandina Dounis is a cultural historian, author, literary translator, and General Editor of SeaRiver Press. She is also Consultant Editor for The Cambridge Journal of Literary Translation.
Greek Australian literature, history, and culture have formed the central axis of her research. Her doctoral thesis, The Shadow and the Muse, involved extensive research into immigrant women’s texts and examined their propensity to challenge historically entrenched perspectives relating to gender-based invisibility.
Her awards include the Monash University MSA Award for Teaching Excellence and the La Trobe Women’s Network Award for her promotion of immigrant women writers.
Recent publications include A New History of Greek-Australian Literature (bilingual edition); “Poetry and Post-War Immigration from Europe” in The Cambridge History of Australian Poetry; and “Island and Exile in The House with the Eucalypts” in Koralli Journal of Greek Letters.
Her latest literary translation is Litsa Nikolopoulou-Gogas’ novel Moments of Truth.
