Controversial Cypriot Australian poet, writer, performer, film and theatre maker, Koraly Dimitradis’ first poetry book, Love and Fck Poems, has won best book of narrative poetry at the 2025 Legacy Book Awards. Part of American Book Fest in Los Angeles, these awards honour older titles published between 2010 and 2015.
Dimitriadis initially published the book as a zine in 2010 which started selling out when she put it in the iconic bookshop Polyester Books on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. “It was selling like hot cakes. First it was their bestselling poetry book but then it quickly became one of their bestselling books.”
Dimitriadis decided to turn it into a book and start her own publishing company, Outside The Box Press, which today she uses to publish all of her poetry books. Outside The Box Press is distributed by Woodslane distributors. A publisher that aims to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of poetry, Outside The Box Press has published other poets and Dimitriadis hopes to publish more in the future.
“I didn’t send Love and Fck Poems to any publishers, I knew nobody would publish it, especially in Australia. And I was right. Because despite selling thousands of copies of my poetry books, I have struggled to generate any publisher interest in my next poetry books Just Give Me The Pills and She’s Not Normal. But I don’t mind as much as I used to. With my poetry, I want to be free to express myself as I please, and there is a tendency with poetry that it should fit a particular formula,” Dimitriadis said.
Love and Fck Poems was also translated into Greek in 2014. In 2023 Dimitriadis published an anniversary edition including the original drawings from her zine. “When it was first published in Greek through ASTAMAN publishers in Cyprus, journalist Andonis Boskitis wrote about it in Lifo.gr and it caused a massive storm. Half the people were saying I was a Greek goddess, and the other were saying I had insulted the Greek poetic language. There was a lot of debate. It was definitely interesting.”
Dimitriadis is currently in Cyprus as part of a European tour. She was an invited guest at Chania Book Festival in Crete, and she will perform in Derby, UK as part of the spoken word event Word Wise, curated by British-Cypriot Jamie Thrasivoulou, on Friday the 25th of July at 7:30pm.
