Ithaca Island Bay Leaves: a Mythistorima by Vana Manasiadis

When novelist Damien Wilkins launched this stunning debut poetry collection, he described it as ‘daring, sprightly, vigorous, intimate, close and affectionate … The poems hit notes of human resistance and resourcefulness again and again, but the book has not a touch of piety in it, has in fact a really pungent wit … Vana dismisses no one, and everyone has the best lines.’

Stephanie de Montalk has described it as alive ‘with acute observation and insight, and the warmth of Vana Manasiadis’s alluring, original poetic voice.’

In Ithaca Island Bay Leaves: a Mythistorima characters from Greek mythology appear in present-day Wellington, and the poet’s grandparents and mother become characters in a magic-real mythology. Mythistorima means, in Greek, story; and these poems work together to tell a story of leaving and returning, of family, and of heroes made mortal and mortals made mythic.

Vana explores the ex patria feeling of ‘being here and being there’ – a feeling which has led her to live in at least four different countries over the past decade – in the last three years in Heraklion, Crete. She completed a masters in creative writing at the IIML at Victoria University in 2005.

The of cover of Ithaca features a striking artwork by Christchurch lithographer Marian Maguire, Athena Observes a Fracas, which similarly places the mythic and heroic in a New Zealand context. Appropriately, the book was launched in December at the Adam Art Gallery, amongst Greek vases and Maguire’s latest exhibition, the Labours of Herakles.

Ithaca is the fifth book to appear from Seraph Press, a boutique publishing company run by Wellington poet Helen Rickerby.

Ithaca Island Bay Leaves: a Mythistorima will be available from selected bookshops, or can be purchased directly from the publisher at seraphpress@paradise.net.nz or by phoning 027 738 5977.

ISBN: 978-0-473-15235-2. Format: Paperback, 150 mm (wide) x 200 mm (tall), 80 pages. RRP: $25.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with the author contact:

Helen Rickerby, Managing Editor, Seraph Press, seraphpress@paradise.net.nz or
027 738 5977