Eyelands.gr literary magazine in collaboration with Strange Days Books organize an annual international short story contest, and a flash fiction contest, the only international story contests based in Greece. Every year, writers from all the continents of the world participate in them.
The short story contest has been running continuously for the past eight years, offering hundreds of writers the opportunity to see their short story printed in one of our collections, created through the contest entries. For many of these writers it is the first time that a story of theirs is printed in a book or featured online. The jury reads all submissions blind.
The English section of the EISSC contest has been recognized as a truly reliable, fair and serious short story contest. Every year, many reputable websites, such as
https://duotrope.com/, https://www.booktrust.org.uk/, justacontest.com, www.londoncomedywriters.com, www.literarylightbox.com, https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/,
virtualwritersinc.com, www.prizemagic.co.uk, www.artsjobs.org.uk, https://www.inkitt.com, http://www.writermag.com, http://creativewriting.ie
http://www.zapmeta.ws, https://nothingintherulebook.com,
http://www.allwritemoya.com, http://www.christopherfielden.com,
http://www.writersreign.co.uk, https://ilpiacerediscrivere.it/
https://writingcompetitions.net/
and many others all over the world post the announcement of our contest, which has earned its reputation year after year, by honoring all its promises, following the rules meticulously and meeting all criteria that allow a contest to gain respect and recognition on an international level.
Since 2018 we launched our most significant project, the Eyelands Book Awards
Webpage: www.eyelands.gr
Email: eyelandsmag@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eyelands.portal
the Judges
ANDRIANA MINOU / POETRY – SHORT STORIES
Andriana Minou was born in 1982 and has been living and working in London since 2004. She holds a BA in Piano Performance, an MA in Performing Arts and a PhD in Piano Performance Practice (Goldsmiths, University of London) with two Onassis Public Benefit Foundation scholarships. Her doctoral thesis was one of the first ones on the work of Greek experimental composer Jani Christou and she has presented her academic work in several conferences and symposiums, such as the 1st International Jani Christou Conference (which she also organised), the Senate House (London) and Centre Pompidou (Paris). She is a founding and active member of many ensembles, including Vladimir&Estragon Piano Duo, Oiseaux Bizarres Ensemble and Coocoolili. She has participated in a great variety of concerts, theatre and music performances, operas, films, albums as a pianist, composer, performer, writer, scriptwriter, librettist, songwriter and director in Greece, the U.K., the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, India, Norway, Bulgaria, Germany, Northern Ireland, the U.S., Portugal and more. She is also a member of DIY record label, FYTINI, with whom she has released two albums (as andrianette and delicassetten machimenai) and has also taken part in many collective projects. Since 2017, she has been curating and participating in regular cabaret nights with Coocoolili in London. Her work as a writer has been published in many anthologies and literary journals in Greece (entefktirio, eyelands, Mandragoras, poetix, chimeres and more), the U.K. (rattle journal, the paper nautilus and more) the U.S. (Typehouse, Story Brewhouse, FIVE:2:ONE, Fearsome Critters, The Liars’ League New York, Utterance, Tiny Spoon, Maintenant Dada), Germany (Sand Journal Berlin) and Canada (anti-languorous). Her first book, “Underage Noirs” was published in 2013 by Strange Days Books. In 2017 she was an invited author at the Young Writers’ Festival of Thessaloniki International Book Fair, while she has been a co-organiser and participant of Sand Festival, a literary festival on the Greek islands since 2015. Her second book, “Dream-mine”, a fragmental novel, was published in 2017 by Strange Days Books, while excerpts in English have also been published in the U.S. (FIVE:2:ONE magazine) and the U.K. in a special volume dedicated to the Oulipo movement (Verbivoracious Press). “Dream-mine” was also presented as a performance/installation by Coocoolili at Atopos CVC as part of UNESCO’s Athens World Book Capital 2018, as well as in other venues in Athens and Thessaloniki. In December 2018, her third book, “allouterra”, was released by Strange Days Books; the book consists of texts, sketches and soundscapes of hers that are regularly published in her column in assodyo journal. Her latest book, “The Fabulous Dead”, was published by Kernpunkt Press, New York, in MAARCH, 2020. One of her most recent projects was her participation with original texts and performance in “Queer Approaches to Lena Platonos” in collaboration with members of FYTINI, an event that took place in December 2018 at the Greek National Opera. Her upcoming projects include the libretto for an opera that will be presented at the Greek National Opera as well as the texts for a music performance in Orgelpark, Amsterdam in spring 2020. www.andrianaminou.com
PATRICIA MARCHESI – CHILDREN BOOKS/ GRAPHIC NOVELS
P.H.C. Marchesi is a college English professor specializing in Shakespeare and Renaissance drama. She teaches at a liberal arts college an hour from Atlanta, GA. Her academic research into the role of trees and forests in Shakespeare’s plays led to her discovery of how precious and rare old-growth forests are, and inspired her to write Florissant. Before embarking on the young adult fantasy genre, she wrote two science fiction novels for middle grade readers, Shelby & Shauna Kitt and the Dimensional Holes and Shelby & Shauna Kitt and the Alterax Buttons, both of which were self-published and won Children’s Literary Classics gold awards. Marchesi is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has also lived in Austria and England. In the United States, she has lived in New York, Delaware, Colorado, Arizona, and (now) Georgia.
GREGORY PAPADOYIANNIS / NOVELS – HISTORICAL FICTION
Gregory Papadoyiannis graduated from the Law and Journalism Schools, studied cinema direction and worked at newspapers, magazines, radio and television, initially as a sports editor and later as a columnist and editor. At the same time, he worked as a translator of literature books in collaboration with several publishing houses and translated books by William Faulkner, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Jack London, Marc Twain etc. into Greek.
In 1991, he was awarded the national prize for young playwrights at the competition of the Ministry of Culture for his play The situations. He was awarded the second prize twice at the same competition, in 1995 and 1999. He has translated theatrical plays by authors such as David Mamet and Tennessee Williams for the purposes of performances in prestigious theatres of Athens. He has also worked as a director’s assistant at the National Theatre of Greece as well as the Theatre of Thessaly. He has been involved with the cinema as well; as a director of two short films that were screened in Greek film festivals and as a script-writer for feature and short films. He has also worked as a script-writer and director’s assistant in several television series.
Gregory is a co-founder, administrator and writer for the books & cinema section of the website http://www.eyelands.gr. He is the curator for the only Greece-based international short story competition, run by http://www.eyelands.gr . He also co-ordinates and leads a series of workshops on creative and collaborative writing all over Greece. After living in Athens for several years, he now lives in the island of Crete. He currently works as a translator and editor for Strange Days Books Publishing (www.strangedaysbooks.gr ) He is co-founder and has been co-organising Sand Festival, since 2015 along with Andriana Minou and Antonis Tsirikoudis.
PUBLICATIONS IN GREEK
– To the Almighty, hereunto, comic album, 1988
– The situations, play, 1992
– The Philadelphus case, science fiction novelette, 1999
– Sniff, novel, 2008 (first edition: Empiria Ekdotiki (2008) third edition: Strange Days Books 2014)
– The city beyond the river, short story collection, 2011
From this collection: The short story The Whole Family won the third prize in the literary contest of the Greek online magazine “Stella’s Literary bistro” (2011) and was shortlisted at the International Annual Fish Short Story Competition. The short story The city beyond the river was shortlisted and Highly Recommended at the Tom Howard Short Story Contest (2009).
PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH
– 52 eyelands, a sentimental guide through the Greek islands (2013, Strange Days Books)
– Greece: The child that never grew up, short story included in Stories for our Time, an Interactive Exhibition from LibArts London (London School of Liberal Arts, 1 May – 31 July 2013)
-The city beyond the river, short story included in the anthology Future eyes of PaleHouse Magazine (2012, Los Angeles, California, http://www.palehouse.com/FE-Papadoyiann.html)
-The Whole Family, short story included in Jakes Monthly anthology of Magic Realism
-In the Majestic’s nest, short story published in Foxing Quarterly (2013, print-only literary and arts journal published in Austin, Texas)
– An excerpt from his novel “Sniff” was posted to the European Literature Network (June 2017) http://www.eurolitnetwork.com/authors-pitch-sniff-by-gregory-papadoyannis/
– His novel «The baby Jazz» released in USA from Fomite books in February 2017
– His comic album “Ephemera/Life is short” released in Greece in December, 2016. Two of the stories from the album published in Porcupine, an anthology of poetry, art, and short stories from 23 contributors across the globe, in November 2017.
papado374@gmail.com
https://gregorypapadoyiannis.wordpress.com/
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the Artist
Costis Malousaris was born in 1972 in Athens. There, he studied photolithography and graphic arts. In 1997, and along with his friend Margarita Leousi, they made the fanzine “walk in the Park”. From then until 2009, he did not stop writing texts, but did not consider it necessary to publish them. He worked for two years at the publishing house ‘Astir’. He was a key contributor to the literary magazine “Fortezza”. He participates as a publishing consultant in the publishing group “Strange Days”. Fifteen years ago he decided to live in Rethymno, Crete. A series of (at first glance) unrelated events, people and situations led him to earn his living through creating and selling ceramic objects.
For more than two years, he studied with the pottery makers Giorgos and Natassa Vardaxi in Rethymnon, who taught him a lot but mainly to dare to become “self-taught”, to experiment with techniques, search for his own ways and not to be afraid to narrate stories he wanted to tell using his own hand-made ceramics instead of words.
He manufactures objects mainly from stoneware clay and combines clay, oxides, paint and glass techniques to create pleasant, face-to-face, use-and-touch objects. The electric furnace and the high temperatures allow for results that he likes to call space therapy objects, always with the challenge of being able to do what inspires your imagination within the strict discipline required by pottery art.
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the Trees*
All first prize winners of each category will receive a handmade ceramic tree, created by Costis Malousaris especially for Eyelands Book Awards
With Kafka’s “Art needs craft more than craft needs art” as a basic principle, I strive to find the balance between pleasure and the therapeutic quality of making, creating objects and the additional achievement of making a living and acquiring recognition through it.
Everyday objects and familiar forms giving the sense of security and familiarity offer a chance for me to present my perspective, my emotion, even my compulsion, accompanying the merchant’s and artist’s worries. Trees, a symbol of power and tranquillity, of a life intense yet discreet, have always been a reference point in my journeys, real and mental – spiritual and material.
Especially the olive tree, the most prominent tree of Crete, a symbol of the struggle for endurance as well as prosperity in Cretan culture, has been a source of inspiration and a bright spot. I therefore consider trees and the olive tree in particular, a symbol equal to an author’s endeavour, inspiration and labour.
Costis Malousaris
- hand build ceramic items, aprox. 20 cm height and 6-8 cm diameter. Stoneware clay, hand painted with engobe colors and twice in the kiln at 1100c.
PREVIOUS PRIZE WINNERS
CATHERINE MCNAMARA
Catherine McNamara was our first grand prize winer in 2018 Eyelands Book Awards.
Category: Published book (The cartography of others) Subgategory: Short Stories
She grew up in Sydney, ran away to Paris, and ended up in West Africa running a bar. Her collection Pelt and Other Stories was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award and was semifinalist in the Hudson Prize, and her short stories have been Pushcart nominated, shortlisted and published in the UK, Europe, USA and Australia. Catherine lives in Italy. Catherine was also the winner of our first Three Rock Writers Residency Program and she will stay for a week holiday at Three Rock Resort in South Crete
Eyelands Book Awards 