belongs to the avant-garde of the Greek literary world.\u00a0 She was born in Patras in 1953, studied Philosophy and Cultural Anthropology in Florence and went on to work in the Greek embassy in Rome. She published her debut novel ‘I f\u00e1rsa’ (Engl: The Trick) in 1982, in which she describes life in a strict patriarchal society. The novel centres around two women who make anonymous telephone calls to arbitrary men and expose them, as representatives of their sex, to public ridicule on behalf of the whole male world. Readers and critics gave the book an enthusiastic reception.\u00a0 Since her successful debut, Sotiropoulos, who also writes columns and screenplays, has published further novels, short story collections and poetry in her home country.\u00a0 So far only her fifth novel ‘Zig-Zag stis Nerantzies’ has been published in German translation, as ‘Bittere Orangen’ in 1999.\u00a0 In 2000 the original text became the first Greek work of prose to receive the country\u2019s two most important literary awards: the Greek state prize for literature and the prize of the literature magazine ‘Diavaso’.<\/p>\n
‘Zig-Zag stis Nerantzies’ traces the fortunes of a group of young people, whose destinies follow winding paths to become interlinked. They include the mysteriously ill Lia, her unemployed brother Sid, the strange male nurse Sotiris and the dreamy girl Nina.\u00a0 When Lia feels badly treated by her nurse in an Athens hospital she asks her brother to teach him a lesson.\u00a0 Sid then steals into the life of the lone wolf Sotiris.\u00a0 However, an unusual friendship arises between the two men, contrary to Lia\u2019s plan.\u00a0 Sid is pulled in to a grotesque murder plot by the nurse, with which he intends to get rid of the twelve year-old Nina, who knows an embarrassing secret.\u00a0 For Nina, one of the most moving characters in the novel, writing is the only way for her to articulate herself and to be able to escape the “idiots and zombies”. Sotiropoulos\u2018s novel, whose original title means literally ‘Zigzag under the Seville Oranges’, thrives on its obscure black humour and passion for the absurd.\u00a0 The author describes life in a society between tradition and modernity using precise and unsentimental language, and tells of the search for love and closeness as well as of the impossibility of sharing one\u2019s feelings.\u00a0 Continually changing perspectives emphasize the isolation of Sotiropoulos\u2018s heroes. The author lives in Athens.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 international literature festival berlin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","jct-role":[1080],"jct-origin":[528],"jct-ilb-years":[597],"class_list":["post-39571","authors","type-authors","status-publish","hentry","jct-role-author","jct-origin-greece","jct-ilb-years-2003-en"],"yoast_head":"\n