Project co-ordinator
|
 |
Tatiani Rapatzikou
Tatiani Rapatzikou is Assistant Professor at the department of American
Literature and Culture. She holds an M.A. (1996) from Lancaster
University in Contemporary Literary Studies and a Ph.D. (2001) in
Contemporary American Literature from the University of East Anglia,
Norwich, England. For her Ph.D. research she was funded by the Board of
Greek State Scholarships Foundation (I.K.Y). Also, she received the
Arthur Miller Centre Award (2000) and the BAAS Short Term Travel Award
(2000) for her research in the U.S.A. and Canada. In summer 2009, she
was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the M.I.T. Comparative Media Studies
program, while in Spring 2012 she was a Visiting Research School at the
Program in Literature at Duke University, U.S.. She teaches courses on
20th century American literature and poetry. Her research interests are
in Contemporary American Literature and the New Media, Postmodern
Fiction and Poetry, the Technological Uncanny, and Cyberculture/Cyberpunk. |
Thessaloniki-based members
|
 |
Zoe Detsi-Diamanti
Zoe Detsi-Diamanti is Assistant Professor in the Department of American
Literature and Culture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
She has been teaching and researching in the field of 18th – and 19th-
century American culture, society, and political ideology with emphasis
on early American drama. Her publications include a book titled Early
American Women Dramatists (New York: Garland, 1998) as well as
articles in New England Theater Journal, American Drama,
American Studies, Prospects. She has also co-edited two
collections of essays, The Flesh Made Text (New York: Peter Lang,
2007) and The Future of Flesh (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan,
2009). |
 |
Yiorgos D. Kalogeras
Yiorgos D. Kalogeras is Professor of American Ethnic and Minority
Literature, Department of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Greece. He has published extensively on Greek American Literature. His
publications include Konstantinos Kazantzes’ Istories tis patridhos
mou (2001), Ethnic Geographies: Socio-Cultural Identifications of
a Migration (2007), Transcultural Localisms: Responding to
Ethnicity in a Globalized World (2006); he has edited Demetra Vaka
Brown’s Haremlik: Some Pages from the Life of Turkish Women
(2005) and The Unveiled Ladies of Stamboul (2006). His most
recent publications include “Are Armenians White? Reading Elia Kazan’s
America, America” (2009), “Entering Through the Golden Door:
Cinematic Representations of a Mythical Moment” (MELUS,
forthcoming 2012), “Retrieval and Invention: The Adaptation of Texts and
the Narrativization of Photographs in Films on Immigration (Journal
of Modern Greek Studies). |
 |
Sakis Serefas
Born in1960 in Thessaloniki, Sakis Serefas still lives there. He holds a
B.A. in Medieval and Contemporary Greek Literature from Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki. In 2000, he was admitted to Columbia
University in New York as a Fulbright Scholar, where he attended classes
at the Department of Classical Studies in Greek Language, History and
Literature. Until recently, he has published fifty books: poetry collections,
fiction, drama, studies on cities, places and poets, translations and
anthologies. Thirteen of his drama pieces have been staged by the Greek National
Theatre, the National Theatre of Northern Greece, Athens-Epidaurus
Festival, Fillipoi-Kavala Festival, Theatro Technis Karolos Koun,
Experimental Stage of “Art” and Tristan Bates Theatre in London. His
play Mam received “Karolos Koun 2007” award by the Committee of
Greek Theatre Critics. His play Melted Butter was presented by
the Ministry of Culture in Serajevo International Festival in 2012. His
play Mission on Planet Earth received the Ministry of Culture
Award in 2007. His play Beware of the Streets was included in the catalogue
of “The 120 best contemporary European plays” of the European Theatre
Convention (ETC, 2010). His book A Dinosaur in My Balcony received the prize of the
Best Children’s Book for 2008. His book Thessaloniki: Face to Face
(text by Sakis Serefas, photos from the archive of Chari Jiakoumi) was
awarded the Milos prize as the best Greek album in the 5th Meeting of
Photographers in Kythira in 2006, organized by the Cultural Association
of Kythira. It has also been translated into French by the Kallimages
Publishing House. He has authored the script for the film Rouleman (full length
movie, directed by Panos Karkanevatos, 2004), which ran in the 46th
International Film Festival of Thessaloniki and the Cannes Festival film
market in 2005. |
 |
Youli Theodosiadou
Youli Theodosiadou is associate professor of American Literature and
Culture in the School of English at Aristotle University. Her research
interests focus on the literature and culture of the U.S. South and
Women’s Studies. She has published articles on Eudora Welty, James Agee,
Carson McCullers, Flannery O’ Connor, Toni Morrison and others in
various literary journals and has co-edited a collection of essays
titled Histories and Myth-Histories: Made in the U.S.A. (2000). She has
also co-edited Gramma: A Journal of Theory and Criticism. She has served
as secretary, treasurer and vice-president of the Hellenic Association
for American Studies (HELAAS) and is currently a board member of the
Southern Studies Forum. Her current publication project explores female
identity in works by African American and southern women writers. |
 |
Sotos Zachariadis
Sotos Zachariadis was born in Thessaloniki in 1960. He apprenticed in
the studios of local painters. He held his first solo exhibition in
Thessaloniki in 1984 and in Athens in 1985. Since then his work has been
exhibited in Greece, Europe and the United States. In the 80s he became
involved with performance art, which culminated in Ihodraseis, staged at
the Royal Theatre of Thessaloniki in 1989. From 1989 to 1994 he invited
Greek and foreign artists to the Sotos Art Gallery. Between 1992-97 he
organized Art Village, an international art festival, in conjunction
with Thessaloniki’s foreign cultural institutes. Since 1983, he has been
teaching painting at Eptapyrgion Correctional Institutes and the
Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki. He has garnered distinctions in
painting contests. He lives and works in Thessaloniki. Sotos Zachariadis
received a Fulbright Artist Award in 1993-94 to work and study at the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. |
Athens-based members
|
 |
Konstantinos Blatanis
Konstantinos Blatanis is Lecturer in American Literature and Culture at
the Faculty of English Language and Literature, University of Athens. He
holds a B.A. (1990) from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, an M.A.
(1992) from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he
studied as a Fulbright fellow, and a Ph.D. (1998) from Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki. He is the author of the book Popular
Culture Icons in Contemporary American Drama (Fairleigh Dickinson
University Press, 2003). Some of his recent articles include, “Enacting
History/ Defining Wholeness: Suzan-Lori Parks’s The America Play
and Topdog/Underdog” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011),
“Mediating Acts of War/ Staging Crises of Sensibility (Gramma,
2008), “Cowboy—The Simulacrum of a Myth: The Course of Writing/Erasing
History: Arthur Kopit’s Indians” (Routledge, 2006). His research
interests lie in American literature, modern drama, popular culture,
media studies, and critical theory. |
 |
Kamilo Nollas
He was born in Paris in 1968. He studied the art of photography in
Liege, Lyon and Athens. He has been working since 1992 as an independent
photographer and photography instructor. His photos appear in public and
private collections in Greece and abroad. His first personal exhibition
entitled Kapnomagaza: Enigmas, Order and Emptiness was curated by
Thanasis Moutsopoulos (2007) and presented in Athens, Thessaloniki and
seven other cities around Greece as well as in Paris within the context
of Month of Photography (2008) and Istanbul (2009). The title album of
the exhibition was published in three languages by Kastaniotis
Publishing House and reached the top 100 best albums according to
Photoespana (2007).
He received a Fulbright art-scholarship for the year 2009-2010 and
attended classes on Video in New York’s International Center of
Photography. The material produced during his stay in the U.S was
exhibited at the New Benaki Museum (2011) under the title Mobile in
New York curated by the American techno-critic Fred Ritchin. The
bilingual catalogue of the exhibition was concurrently published the
same year by Kastaniotis Publishing House. |
 |
Liana Sakelliou
Born in Athens, Greece, Liana Sakelliou studied English at the
University of Athens (B.A.), Edinburgh (Grad Diploma), Essex (M.A.), and
The Pennsylvania State University (Ph.D.). She is Professor in English
at The University of Athens where she teaches Creative Writing and
American Literature. She has written 15 books and her poems, scholarly
articles, book reviews, and translations have been published in Greece
and the U.S.A. She received the Fulbright Award for the Arts in 1992,
the Fulbright Award for Scholarship in 2000, the Stanley J. Seeger
Research Fellowship in 2001, the British Council Grant for Travel (1989,
1992, 1993, 1998); the U.S.I.S. Scholarship for Participation in
Conferences, The Academy of American Poets’ Award for University
Students in 1985, The West Dean College Poet in Residence Award in 2009,
The University of Coimbra and The Monsanto Poet in Residence Award in
2011. She has been a Visiting Fellow at The University of California,
Berkeley and Davis (1992); Northwestern University, Evanston (2000); and
Princeton University (2001). Since February 2010 she has been offering
poetry seminars at the Takis Sinopoulos Foundation. Her poetry
collection Prends-moi comme une photographie has just been published by
L’ Harmattan (December 2012). |
 |
Theodoros Zafeiropoulos
Born in 1978. Graduated with honors from the School of Fine Arts,
Aristoteleian University of Thessaloniki (workshop of G. Golfinos)
(1998-2003). He participated in the Erasmus program in the University of
Barcelona (2000-2001). He graduated with honors from the MFA program of
the School of Fine Arts in Athens (2004-2006). He graduated and honored
with the Paula Rhodes Memorial Award from the MFA program of the School
of Visual Arts, New York-USA as recipient of the Fulbright, Gerondelis
and Al.Onassis Foundations scholarships (2007-2009). Participated in
Skowhegan School of painting and Sculpture ME, USA (summer 2009). He is
a current PHD candidate in the Department of Architecture, University of
Thessaly, Volos, Greece (2009).
Lives and works in Athens and NYC. |
Thessaloniki-based Young Leaders
|
 |
Maria Chatzidimou
Maria Chatzidimou was born in Giannitsa in 1988. Since 2006, she has
been living in Thessaloniki, where she received her bachelor degree on
English Language and Literature by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
in 2011. She is still creating memories of Thessaloniki due to her
master courses on English Literature and Culture that keep her in town.
Her main interests circulate around films, gastrotourism, destruction
and construction projects, photography, social unrest and cooking. Oh
yes! And sometimes she likes to study about feminist porn, abjects,
dystopias and Ideological State Apparatuses. |
 |
Evaggelia-Evmorfia Giourouki
I come from Larisa. Currently, I'm an undergraduate student in
School of English at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In my
free time I enjoy reading and writing. Through my participation in the
urban project, I had the opportunity to explore urban space and
experience different aspects of urban living. Via a variety of
workshops, I met and conversed with artists from various backgrounds and
cultures. This has certainly affected the way I approach, view, and
understand urbanity. |
 |
Stergios Goutsidis
I was born in Larisa on November 30th, 1991. When I was 3 years old,
my family moved to N. Orestiada, where I finished school. In 2009, I
enrolled in School of English of the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, where I am still a student. Taking into consideration my
love for Art, I find the Urban Environments project as an opportunity
for creative expression through different means and mediums. |
 |
Vasilis Harisis
Vasilis Harisis is a PhD candidate in the Department of American
Literature and Culture of the Schools of English of Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki. He holds a MA in Gender Studies (University of Sussex,
UK). His research interest include the American popular culture, music
reviewing, feminist and queer theory. He has been involved with the
Thessaloniki Cultural Panorama for Gender as well as with FM 100,6 Local
'Volunteer Radio' station." |
 |
Zafiroula Kavvadia
I am Zefi Kavvadia, currently completing my undergraduate studies in
School of English at Aristotle University and hopefully continuing with
an MA in Cultural Studies the year after. I play role-playing games (RPGs)
with a special fondness for creative writing RPGs and what really
fascinates me is the world of popular culture. The “Urban Environments
in Transition” project was especially relevant for me because I have
always felt to be a “city child” and after all, cities, with their
mingling words and ever-changing spaces, are exceptional producers of
pop culture! |
 |
Evgenia Kleidona
I am Evgenia Kleidona, a fourth year student in the School of English
with a background in Linguistics, constantly trying to find ways to
combine my love for technology and my poetic inner self. As much as I
love nature, there is something about urban environments that really
excites me. I love walking around the city, exploring and interacting,
feeling the vibes of the city life. Even more so, I love the feeling I
get every time I realize that in our urban environment we are so much
more connected with each other than we usually think. |
 |
Lizzy Pournara
My name is Lizzy Pournara, I am a Postgraduate Student and my research
interests are in Postmodern Poetry, Romanticism and Digital Literature.
I do enjoy writing poetry and I’m fascinated by the material aspect of
words. I think of the urban space as a maze in which one gets the
opportunity to creative alternative paths, none of which leads to a
wrong direction, for every dead-end that is discovered hides a story
that waits to be told. |
 |
Zoe Rapti
My name is Zoe Rapti. I am 22 years old. I am an undergraduate in my
third year of studies in School of English at Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, Greece. I decided to get involved with this project
because of its title. I have always been interested in observing the way
cities change, especially the city I live in, as well as people’s way of
life in them. Though, I never thought that we would get involved in so
many artistic activities, I found this challenge very entertaining.
|
 |
Irini Saridaki
My name is Eirini Saridaki and I am studying at the School of
English at the Aristotle University. Thessaloniki has become my hometown
for the past few years. This project has given me the opportunity to
express my gratitude to the city that has offered me four wonderful
student years. At the same time, this project has enabled me to renew my
relation with the city by broadening my horizons and learning from and
about it from the people who live in it on a daily basis. |
 |
Dimitra Triantafyllidou
She was born on the 12th of February in 1992 in Thessaloniki, where
she has lived ever since. She is a third-year student at the School of
English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She enjoys traveling, she
likes reading and dancing –both ballet and hip hop-, and she is also
interested in psychology and sculpture art. She appreciates sincerity,
willingness and creativity. |
 |
Zoe Tsiviltidou
Tsiviltidou Zoe holds a BA in English Language & Literature from the
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and an Honors MA in Cultural Policy
& Management from the University of Arts in Belgrade and the University
Lumière Lyon II. Her academic research addresses the art of storytelling
and cultural literacy, intercultural mediation and the art of city
making. |
 |
Stavroula Vergopoulou
My name is Stavroula Vergopoulou and I am in my third year of studies in
the School of English at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Greece. I was born and raised in Thessaloniki, and I still live here. I
love my city and I am interested in its all-level exploration.
Furthermore, I am fond of arts (mostly music, creative writing, painting
and photography), which in my opinion can make the urban environment
extremely appealing and even more inspiring. |
Athens-based Young Leaders
|
 |
Tasoula Asimakopoulou
My name is Tasoula Asimakopoulou and I am 22 years old. I was born and
raised in Alimos, a suburb in the south of Athens. I am a recent
graduate of the Faculty of English Language and Literature, School of
Philosophy, at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In
May 2012, I completed my two-month practice teaching (teaching English
as a foreign language) at Psychico College, Hellenic American
Educational Foundation. I intend to pursue postgraduate studies in
English literature in the near future. Through my participation in
the project, I had the opportunity to engage with the complexities of
urban living on a theoretical level. I also got to explore the city
centre more sustainedly and discover uncharted and, as it turned out,
wonderfully intriguing nooks and crannies (such as the river Heridanos). |
 |
Eleni Bourantani
Eleni [Nelly] Bourantani, born in 1976 in Piraeus, holds a BA in English
Language and Literature and an MA in Translation-Translation Theory,
both from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since
2000, she has been a teacher of English Language at state schools. She
is also involved in literary translation and creative writing. Her most
recent published work is the translation of Katerina Valaoritis’s poetic
volume «×áìÝíïò Èçóáõñüò» (Athens: Êïéíùíßá ôùí ÄåêÜôùí, 2012). She also
wrote a winning entry in the competition on intercultural dialogue
organized by the British Council, Ianos, and Ta Nea in Greece in
November 2008 (“Habari Rafiki!”, Imagine your Future in a Changing
City, Athens: Ianos Publications, 2009). |
 |
Anastasia Kapetanou
My name is Anastasia Kapetanou. I have a BA in Sociology from the
American College of Greece and an MA in Applied Research from the City
University of New York and I have been working in the area of marketing
research since 2003. I entered the English department of the School of
Philosophy in 2005 and I am a degree pending student with a
concentration in English Literature and Culture. My interests include
representations of the American city in literary texts and film and this
is why I am participating in the project Urban Environments in
Transition. |
 |
Alice Loupou
My name is Alice Loupou and I'm a fourth year student at the Faculty of
English Studies. I was born in Thessaloniki in 1991, but I live in
Cholargos, Athens, since I was 5 years old. Even though I do not live
close to the center of Athens, I go there quite often and I hope that it
will thrive. I am amateurishly involved in creating short movies and
painting. Additionally, I am interested in volunteering, thus I am a
volunteer at the Hospital of the Hellenic Airforce and a new member of
Mensa's social intervention group. |
 |
Lamprini Michou
Lamprini Michou was born in Athens. She has a B.A in English Language
and Literature (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
1995-1999) and a M.A in Film Studies (University of East Anglia, U.K
1999- 2000). She has attended various creative writing seminars and film
seminars and was involved in the creation and performance of two
theatrical plays ‘A photograph: Hilda Doolittle’ (History Museum
University of Athens, 2008) and ‘The edge of the Attraction’ (Hellenic
and American Union, 2009). Also she was co-scriptwriter and co-director
in the short fiction film ‘Elpida’ (2008) and in the short documentary
‘Kypseli’ (2009). She has recently completed her first personal film ‘Ad
Libitum’. Her interests are poetry, scriptwriting and cinematography. |
 |
Polytimi Mitsakou
My name is Polytimi Mitsakou. I study in the English
Department of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens and I am
currently at my fourth and last year of my bachelor. I cherish a love
for the English language and a deeper one for literature. During the
spring semester of 2012 I went on an Erasmus in Finland where I fell in
love with the beauties of the land, but also while being there I
understood, why my country and especially the city in which I live, has
a very profound meaning and influence on me (the realization arising
when being far away from it and grasping the intertwined relationship
that exists between a city and its individuals). I’ve been writing in a
student magazine for the last 3 years and I enjoy it very much since I
can feel a different rhythm of the city than the ones we are used to in
our everyday lives. Creativity and imagination, team spirit and
cooperation, socializing with sharp minds of the new generations are
things that redeem us and broaden our horizons day by day and offer us a
fresher insight to the city’s heart. That’s why I find this project (Urban
Environments in Transition) perfectly connected with any creative or
artistic act that takes place within urban environments from the
restless spirits of our era. I love the urban contradictory images of
filth and cleanness, of passions and sloth, abundance and lack, light
and darkness, experiences that trigger an explosion of emotions either
positive or negative, all cases being warmly welcome. Urban Environments
in Transition is eventually a process that never stops… |
 |
Maria Nikolopoulou
I was born in Athens in 1991 and finished the 24th High School in 2009.
I am currently a fourth year student at the department of English
Language and Literature and I have a keen interest in translation.
Thanks to my participation in the Erasmus exchange program last year, I
got the chance to visit and observe the urban environments of various
European cities. The theme of the city and its transition concerns me
greatly as I live very near the center of Athens. |
 |
Sofia Salta
Born and raised in the city of Athens I have always been in contact with
the urban environment and the life of the city. Ever since I was little,
I have always liked to take long walks in order learn my city from
within. I have always participated in voluntary programs in order to
ameliorate our lives in the city and help those who were not so lucky as
I were. |
 |
Angeliki Tseti
I have obtained a BA on English Language and Literature from the
University of Athens and an MA on Contemporary Literary Studies from
Lancaster University in the U.K, and I have been working as an English
language teacher in secondary education. As of 2009, I have been a
doctorate candidate doing a joint thesis at the University of Athens and
the Université Paris VII – Diderot in France. My thesis investigates
word-image interactions and more specifically the use of photography in
literary texts.
Born and raised in Athens, I have always been surrounded by an urban
environment and have always been enchanted by its multifaceted quality.
I am intrigued by the many surprises that can lie hidden in alleys and
arcades and I am entranced by the energy emanated from the city centre.
What interests me the most, however, is the way a city constitutes both
a living organism on its own, subject to development and change, and the
sum of the people inhabiting it, a reflection of their lives and
activities. My fascination with the urban environment has been renewed
through the use of technology, and especially photography, in the ways a
single picture can reveal infinite more details in a city scene and
unveil unlimited combinations of seemingly incompatible elements as well
as traces of the past in the present. |
 |
Maria Vasileiou
I was born and raised in the heart of the city, in the area of
Kerameikos, only 300 m. away from the Acropolis. To me, the city center
was a magical place full of endless possibilities, secrets and surprises,
waiting for me to discover them all. Over the last few years, I combine
my love for the city and science in my PhD thesis on Wandering in the
Urban Environment. |
 |
Katerina Vgena
My name is Katerina Vgena and I am twenty years old. I have graduated
from the third Mytilene's High School at 2010 and now I am studying at
the faculty of English Studies in Athens. I speak English and French. I
like reading novels with foreign city descriptions and walking in the
city center observing its architecture, parks, monuments and the way
that people's everyday life is affected by that urban environment. |
 |
Maria Zygogianni
Maria Zygogianni was born and raised in Athens. She graduated in 2008
from the Experimental Lyceum “Anavryta” and currently studies at the
School of English of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
During autumn 2011, she studied for a semester at Université du Maine.
Since 2012, she's been writing for “Kaleidoscope” magazine. |
