ABOUT ME & WRITING<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was born in Cyprus but, after the Turkish invasion, my parents fled the island and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
settled in Australia for the next 15 years before returning to their homeland and consequently,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
acquainting us with our roots \u2013 roots which felt familiar yet far away. I then went on to receive<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my B.A in English (Hons) from Royal Holloway, University of London. Living in three different<\/p>\n\n\n\n
countries before the age of twenty-one, gave me insight into this internal misplacement, whether<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my own or those around me, whether geographical, psychological or both. I am fascinated by those<\/p>\n\n\n\n
who feel trapped by circumstances and the coping mechanisms they rely on. At its axis,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my writing explores this feeling of misplacement set against the backdrop of taut relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the last twenty-eight years, I have been teaching English in both private and public schools in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cyprus. It is creative writing though, where I come alive, find, lose and re-find myself. It\u2019s wonderful<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to have overcome my fear of submitting and getting out there. Any writer is given a wonderful wind<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in their sails seeing their work published or nestling in short and long lists. In 2020, I was one of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
three Cypriots lucky enough to have had the opportunity to be mentored by the awesome Jennifer Makumbi<\/p>\n\n\n\n
under the Commonwealth Foundation. This one-to-one mentorship spun my writing round and then some!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June 2023, I was selected as an Oxbelly Fiction Fellow for their inaugural Writers Retreat. This<\/p>\n\n\n\n
programme was under the directorship of Chigozie Obioma whose vision was to bring storytellers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
from different backgrounds together to share, help and learn from each other. This was held<\/p>\n\n\n\n
concurrently with Oxbelly\u2019s Episodic programme. In the eight days, hosted in stunning Costa Navarino,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greece \u2013 our group of five (ten fiction fellows in total) were mentored by the amazingly incisive Rebecca<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Makkai. On top of that we were treated to masterclasses, readings and discussions by notable writers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and poets like Anuradha Roy, Nadifa Mohamed, Scott Cairns and Mary-Alice Daniel. A life-changing experience!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, seeing my fellow writers from the Oxbelly group flourishing is so uplifting and the same<\/p>\n\n\n\n
goes for the writers in my monthly critique group!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, I am writing a novel that picks up where certain Greek myths left off because I love musing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
upon the \u2018what ifs?\u2019 of Greek myth. My novel is set it in the wild Cypriot landscapes I live and roam in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m also working on a collection of short stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love works with more than a few dollops of magical realism: think Angela Readman\u2019s poetry and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
short stories. I also adore Maria Taylor\u2019s poetry and Eowyn Ivey\u2019s \u2018The Snow Child\u2019 is a novel I often return to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phillip Pullman\u2019s writing is, of course, a burning flame for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABOUT ME & WRITING I was born in Cyprus but, after the Turkish invasion, my parents fled the island and settled in Australia for the next 15 years before returning to their homeland and consequently, acquainting us with our roots \u2013 roots which felt familiar yet far away. I then went on to receive my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/626\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriniloucaides.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}