Cyprus’ capital Nicosia has been split by a militarized border for decades. In this collection, writers from all sides of the divide re-imagine the past, present and future of their city.
Here, Cypriot-Greeks coexist alongside Cypriot-Turks, the north with the south, town with countryside, dominant voices with the marginalized. This is a city of endless possibilities – a place where an anthropologist from London and a talkative Marxist are hunted by a gunman in the Forbidden zone; where a romance between two aspiring Tango dancers falls victim to Nicosia’s time difference; and where an artist finds his workplace on a rooftop, where he paints a horizon disturbed only by birds.
Together, these writers journey beyond the beaten track creating a complete picture of Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital city, that defies barriers of all kinds.
Erato Ioannou, Painting on the Walls
Aydin Mehmet Ali, My Accordion Teacher
Adrian Woolrich-Burt, Flaş
Shereen Pandit, Divided Cities and Black Holes
Constantia Soteriou, Red Lefkosa Dreams
Jenan Selcuk, Bastejkalna Park
Stavros Karayanni, Gardening Desire
Despina Michaelidou, My Name is Queer
Haji Mike, The Photo – The Guard Post
Dinda Fass, Darkroom Delay
Bahir Laattoe, Alif… Baa… Taa…
Hakan Djumam, The Missing Hour
Antoine Cassar, Time Zones
Zoe Piponides, High Five
Argyro Nicolaou, A Waste of Time
Jacqueline Jondot, Why Are Green Lines Called Green
Maria Kitromilidou, Beyond Barriers
Sherry McDowell, Nicosia Beyond Barriers: Through the Eyes of a Child
Aysegul Salamis Sentug, Petrichor Requiem
Andriana Ierodiaconou, The Heart of Nicosia
Elisa Bosio, Blue Ants, Red Ants
Marianna Phoka, First Call
Stephanos Stephanides, Broken Heart
Kivanc Houssein, A Walk Through Ledra
Dize Kukrer, The Endless Day
Dinda Fass, Calliope
Nobert Bugeja, Ledra
Yiannis Papadakis, The Language of the Dead Zone
Gur Genc, Nicosia
Zoe Piponides, Hot City Dream
Maria Petrides, Coccinella
Christos Tsiailis, Knit
Rachael Pettus, Ledra Street Crossing
Marilena Zackheos, Within the Walls
Munevver Ozgur, Buzzing Bees in My House
Caroline Rooney, Serendipity
Anthony Anaxgorou, Two Syllables Six Letters
Melissa Hekkers, Island in the Sun
Shola Balogun, I Too Shall Anoint the Stones
Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Nicosia’s African Diaspora
Bahriye Kemal, Spatial Tripling
Caroline Rooney, Outer Sanctum
Sevina Floridou, Conjectures Around A Vanished Nicosian Bath Sign
Tina Adamidou, Silk
Stephanos Stephanides, Rhapsody on the Dragoman
Jenan Selcuk, I Made a Promise to Blue
Christodoulos Moisa, Right-Hand Corner
Rachael Pettus, Nicosia
Angus Reid, In the Company of Birds
Laila Sumpton, Nursery Tales
Alev Adil, Fragments from an Architecture of Forgetting
Mary Anne Zammit, Shades of a City
Alev Adil is a performance artist-poet who has appeared at the Tate Britain, British Museum and in countless international locations, from Azerbaijan to Finland. Her poetry has been translated into eight languages. Adil is also a literary critic for The Times Literary Supplement, UK.
Aydin Mehmet Ali has worked as an arts and education adviser to various bodies, including the London Mayor and Local Education Authorities. Her latest publication is Forbidden Zones: Short Stories & Others. She is the founder of Literary Agency Cyprus (LAC).
Bahriye Kemal is a research associate and lecturer at the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. Her research engages with Cypriot literary and cultural studies, postcolonial partition discourse, Ottoman and British imperialism, and spatial theory. Kemal is an active member of Literary Agency Cyprus, Kent Refugee Help, Seenaryo and Women Now.
Maria Petrides is an independent writer, editor and translator. She has been a writer in residence in NYC, Nicosia, Istanbul, Helsinki, Rio de Janeiro, and Geneva. She is the translator of Wow (Patakis 2016) and To Teach the Journey (Saita 2016), and the author of A Book of Small Things (2016) and editor of Semiotics (Cambridge Scholars, 2017).