We are very glad to announce that the Eyelands Books Awards ceremony will take place on 25th of November, 12:00 @ bookstore & cafe “‘Komprai” at the center of Athens. Didotou street, 34, a fresh new spot for booklovers of Athens.
Ken Pisani, the grand prize winner of 2022 Eyelands Book Awards will be there to take his tree prize!!
SHORT BIO : In addition to his work as a novelist, Ken Pisani is an Emmy-nominated TV producer, screenwriter, playwright, and comic book author. His Los Angeles Times best-selling debut novel “AMP’D” was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Earlier this year, Ken optioned his quirky mystery novella, “4 Corners,” for television. His recent novel, “The Defection and Subsequent Resurrection of Nikolai Pushkin,” (pub date TBD) is a decades-spanning farce based on true events. He recently completed a new novel, “Days Are Here Again,” and is working on a variety of new projects. Follow on Twitter: @kpsmartypants or visit kenpisani.com.
EYELANDS BOOK AWARDS 2022 – GRAND PRIZE /UNPUBLISHED BOOKS
Grand prize (unpublished books): Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books
Hardy Griffin has published writing in Aesthetica Magazine, Fresh.ink, New Flash Fiction, Alimentum, Assisi, The Washington Post, American Letters & Commentary, and a chapter in The Gotham Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction (Bloomsbury). His translations can be found in Words Without Borders, The Istanbul Biennial, and for Ermeniler, an award-winning book on the lives of Armenians in contemporary Turkey. He is the founding editor of Novel Slices, a publication dedicated solely to novel excerpts.
‘My wife, our two children, and I were living in Istanbul in 2010, and I had a health scare, and as I was recovering, scenes from the novel came to me—in many ways, the conversations between the two main characters, Eser and her mother Sara, were based on conversations between my wife, Banu, and our daughter”
FROM HARDY GRIFFIN ‘S INTERVIEW
”It feels incredible, and I’m so honored and humbled to have had Broken Kismet chosen. This also motivated me to submit my unpublished novel to literary agents—I’ve already had two ask to read the full manuscript in just one month, which is amazing. I’m deeply thankful to the Eyelands Book Awards, the judges, Strange Days Press, and the translator, Gregory Papadoyiannis!”
Grand prize (published books): Five-day staying in Athens plus a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards and publication (excerpts) online on our website.
Grand prize (unpublished books): Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books
Ten more prizes, one for each category of every section, also win a handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards and a book from Strange Days books!
Certification document for every prize. Online Certification document for every finalist upon request Final results are to be announced on December 30, 2023.
Eyelands gr. & Strange Days Books are glad to announce the
EYELANDS BOOK AWARDS 2023
Grand prize (published books): Five-day staying in Athens plus a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards and publication (excerpts) online on our website.
Alternative prize: (in case of travel restrictions): online ceremony & translation of the prize winner book in Greek
Grand prize (unpublished books): Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books
Ten more prizes, one for each category of every section, also win a handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards and a book from Strange Days books!
Certification document for every prize. Online Certification document for every finalist upon request Final results are to be announced on December 30, 2023.
Submit your book or manuscript online $35.00 (30 euros)
Early bird submission $ 25 (20 euros) till September 1st, 2023.
Eligible submissions include: poetry, novellas, short story collections, novels, children’s and YA books, historical fiction/memoir, graphic novels.
Multiple submissions allowed.
Early bird submission fee for every additional submission
Simultaneous submissions allowed, but please notify us if full manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Finalists for every category to be announced on November 20, 2023
Final results are to be announced on Wednesday, December 30, 2023.
There are no restrictions regarding nationality
Participants must be 18 years old otherwise we need parents’ consent to accept the submission.
Manuscripts must be written in English.
There is no restriction about the form or style of writing. We prefer the pages to be numbered. Files should be uploaded as an MS Word document or PDF. Fill the entry form, copy and paste it in the body of your email.
Grand Prize: A five-day holiday in Athens plus a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards and publication (excerpts) online on our website. Eyelands cover all accommodation costs for the award winner. Air tickets not included.
Alternative prize: translation of the prize winner’s book in Greek
Grand prize (unpublished books): Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books
There will be five finalists for each category.
Five more prizes, one for each category, also win a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards
Certification document for every prize.
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Section: Unpublished books
Grand prize: Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books
Five more prizes, one in each category, also win a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards
All prize winners
A special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards
Certification document for every prize plus a book –English edition- from Strange Days books
There will be five finalists for each category.
Online Certification document for every finalist upon demand.
Grand Prize winners will be among the judges at the next EBA 2024
ENTRY FORM
(one entry form per book):
Title:
Author:
Category:
Publisher: (for published books only)
ISBN: (for published books only)
Address:
E-Mail:
AWARD CATEGORIES (select one per entry application):
The following are eligible:
1/Full-length books of fiction (novels or novellas of any genre)
2/Collections of short stories by one author
3/Collected and selected poems
4/Historical fiction – Memoir
5/Children’s and YA books – Graphic Novels
The limit is 250.000 words for every category of published books. The limit for unpublished texts is 150.000 words except for poetry category where there is a specific limit in pages.
Any text/poetry collection (up to 250 pages) written by a single author is eligible
Any text/book written by two or more writers is also eligible. In this case, accommodation in Athens will be shared
Click the «buy now» button. Fill the description with: EBA
* After the payment is complete, you can send the email with your manuscript as an attachment and the entry form completed, copied and pasted in the body of your email
*An email confirmation that your entry has been received will be sent within three/four days
* We do accept simultaneous submissions
* Every writer can submit more books with the early bird payment fee of $25 for each book
*No fee for prize winners of previous EBA & Eyelands international short story contests– but no more than one free submission per person!
* Early bird submission for finalists of Eyelands Book Awards previous contests.
Early bird submissions for writers on a low income
Free submissions for writers from Ukraine!
*All books must have been published between September 20, 2016 and September 20, 2023.
Hardy Griffin, author of Broken Kismet – Grand Prize winner on Eyelands Book Awards 2022, kindly answers to our questions about the prize, his writing career and future plans his memories from Greece and a lot more!
How does it feel to be the grand prize winner of an international books contest, especially when this contest is based in a country far far away from yours? It feels incredible, and I’m so honored and humbled to have had Broken Kismet chosen. This also motivated me to submit my unpublished novel to literary agents—I’ve already had two ask to read the full manuscript in just one month, which is amazing. I’m deeply thankful to the Eyelands Book Awards, the judges, Strange Days Press, and the translator, Gregory Papadoyiannis!
How did you hear about the contest? Through the Literistic.com newsletter—the Eyelands Book Awards were a featured contest in October, 2022.
When did you start writing? My mother is a poet and as far back as I can remember we played with writing. It’s funny how my big protest move was to become a fiction writer.
You wrote a brilliant book. What was the inspiration for ‘’Broken Kismet’’? Thank you for saying that! My wife, our two children, and I were living in Istanbul in 2010, and I had a health scare, and as I was recovering, scenes from the novel came to me—in many ways, the conversations between the two main characters, Eser and her mother Sara, were based on conversations between my wife, Banu, and our daughter.
If your book will be adapted for a movie script, what kind of film do you think it would be? I’d hope it would be a very novelistic film that might be a kind of cross between The Joy Luck Club and Girl on a Train. Many of the New York City scenes are set at dusk or at night, while I tried to have many of the Istanbul ones flooded with beautiful Mediterranean light, and I think that would carry over well in a film. Last but not least, there’s a lot of kindness and warmth in intimate spaces in Istanbul—whether that’s Eser and her mother and grandmother at home or a hardware store owner who takes in someone who clearly needs help—and this can contrast quite starkly with the sense one gets in public spaces. There’s an idiom in Istanbul that ‘the person who honks and gestures at you in traffic would hug you and feed you full at their house,’ and I’d want some of that to be captured in a film along with the beautiful light and incredible architecture of this ancient city.
Can you tell us more about another award winning book of yours, that is ‘’Ermeniler’’, book on the lives of Armenians in contemporary Turkey? This is a photography book with an extended introduction by an amazingly talented artist, Nuran Akkaya, about Armenians living in contemporary Turkey. These are photos of triumph, loss, bravery, kindness, and persistence coming through such events as annual ceremonies, Armenian artisans and performers, the destruction of a famous Armenian hospital, and the hundreds of thousands of Armenians/Greeks/Turks who marched in the streets to protest the senseless killing of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. Here is a sample of these powerful photos.
Have you ever been in Greece? Yes, I was so lucky to go to Greece when I was young, to see Athens, Thrace, and a number of islands including Santorini, Mykonos, and Corfu. But I ran out of money there and actually worked as a waiter on the island of Zakynthos, where I worked for the last two months of the tourist season as a waiter. The couple that owned the restaurant were welcoming and thoughtful, and were always happy to teach me little bits of Greek. The other waiters were Greeks born in Albania and two Australians, and in the kitchen were the couple who owned the restaurant and an Egyptian chef. At the close of the season, I had saved enough drachma to buy a ticket back to the US—but I have to say I missed Greece so much immediately afterwards, and I’ve often thought I should have stayed and learned much more Greek.
What are your plans as a writer for the future? One of the many things I loved about writing Broken Kismet was setting up the complex plot elements in both the past and present to weave together much like a mystery that slowly comes into focus. Currently, I’m about halfway through the first draft of a mystery a bit in the vein of Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red. It’s quite complex, setting up something like that, but I’m having a lot of fun—like putting together a literary puzzle.
How do you feel with the idea you will be the judge for the novels category in the Eyelands Books Awards 2023? I’m wildly excited—this whole experience has been such an honor and pleasure and I can’t wait to read the many novel manuscripts later this year! It’s always a delight to discover new and interesting novels in bookstores and libraries, and this is that much more exciting.
How do you feel that your book will be translated into Greek? Φανταστικός! It’s fantastic because so much of the novel is set in Istanbul, and of course so much of this ancient city’s architecture and culture comes from Greek culture and civilization. For instance, there’s an ancient stone wall in front of Sara and Eser’s apartment building that I imagine could well have been a divider between Greek farmers’ fields some 600 years ago. At the same time, much of the complex plot of the novel actually comes through everyday experiences and I’d bet these are not so different between families living in Athens and Istanbul. Last but far from least, I love the sound and look of Greek, so seeing Broken Kismet in this fantastic language will be such a thrill and honor.
// BIO Hardy Griffin has published writing in Aesthetica Magazine, Fresh.ink, New Flash Fiction, Alimentum, Assisi, The Washington Post, American Letters & Commentary, and a chapter in The Gotham Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction (Bloomsbury). His translations can be found in Words Without Borders, The Istanbul Biennial, and for Ermeniler, an award-winning book on the lives of Armenians in contemporary Turkey. He is the founding editor of Novel Slices, a publication dedicated solely to novel excerpts.
Broken Kismet will be translated into Greek by Gregory Papadoyiannis and is scheduled to be released in Greece on September 2023
Eyelands Book Awards 