Pomegranate Seeds: An Anthology of Greek-American Poetry
Dean Kostos, Editor
ISBN 978-0-977461-04-2
About the Book
This volume is the first-ever collection of poems in English by 49 prominent Greek-American poets from throughout the United States. The poems cover a variety of topics and styles.
Praise for the Book
“Pomegranate Seeds is a rich and evocative mosaic in verse of the Greek-American experience that has much to offer not only Greeks and Americans but every traveler in that mysterious and tumultuous voyage called life.” -- Nicholas Gage, Best-selling Author of Eleni and A Place for Us
“The light of Greece shines on these poets who celebrate their heritage and at the same time offer a mix of their American experience. Rich and varied poems find Hermes, Klytemnestra and Artemis sharing the terrain with Anthony Quinn as Zorba. In Detroit a letter is written in Greek to announce the death of a neighbor to relatives in Constantinople. Like many sons, Icarus complains about his father’s rules, and elsewhere the air fills with Odysseus and Penelope as they plot death to the suitors. Dean Kostos, the editor, has provided an engaging and insightful introduction to an anthology that merits an enthusiastic audience.” -- Colette Inez, author of Spinoza Doesn’t Come Here Anymore and The Secret of M. Dulong, a Memoir
“An anthology like Pomegranate Seeds, which brings us poetry by the American descendents of the first poets in our culture, is a unique event, and even more so when I find names in its table of contents like old master George Economou and new poet Veronica Golos, not to mention its editor, Dean Kostos. Seed by seed, these poets offer plenty of nourishment for the trips that they offer us around their worlds, to heaven, and to hell.” -- Bill Zavatsky, author of Where X Marks the Spot and co-translator of Earthlight: Poems by Andre Breton
About the Editor
Dean Kostos is the author of Last Supper of the Senses (Spuyten Duyvil, 2005); The Sentence That Ends with a Comma (Painted Leaf, 1999); and the chapbook Celestial Rust (Red Dust, 1994). He co-edited the anthology Mama’s Boy, a Lambda Book Award finalist. His poems have appeared in Barrow Street, The Bitter Oleander, Bloom, Boulevard, Chelsea, Cimarron Review, Rattapallax, Southwest Review, Stand, Western Humanities Review, on Oprah Winfrey’s Website Oxygen.com, and elsewhere. His reviews have appeared on the Harvard University Press Web site and elsewhere. His translations from modern Greek have appeared in Talisman and Barrow Street, and from Spanish (with Jaime Manrique) in Bomb. He was commissioned to write Dialogue: Angel of Peace, Angel of War, set to music by James Bassi, and performed by Voices of Ascension. Box-Triptych; his choreo-poem, was staged at La Mama. He has taught poetry writing at the Gallatin School of New York University, The Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Gotham Writers’ Workshop, The Great Lakes Colleges Association, Pratt University, and Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Recipient of a Yaddo fellowship, he has served as literary judge for Columbia University’s Gold Crown and Gold Circle Awards. He lives in New York City.
The Contributors
The following poets contributed to this anthology:
Nicos Alexiou
Manya Coulentianos Bean
Dorothea Bisbas
Lili Bita
Sevasti Boutos
John Bradley
Ioanna Carlsen
Neil Carpathios
Yiorgos Chouliaras
Kyriaki S. Christodolou
George A. Christopoulos
Constantine Contogenis
George Economou
Eleni Fourtouni
Emily Fragos
Dan Georgakas
Faye George
Aris Georgiadis
Veronica Golos
M. J. Golias
Stathis Gourgouris
Thea Halo
Nicholas Johnson
George Kalamaras
Nina Karacosta
Penelope Karageorge
E. D. Karampetsos
Helen Dendrinou Kolias
Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos
Dean Kostos
Barbara Lekatsas
John Manesis
Kathryn Maris
Thanasis Maskaleris
Andriana Mastor
Cleopatra Mathis
Zaharati Morfesis
Nikki Moustaki
Kostas Myrsiades
Stephanos Papadopoulos
Andriana Rizos
Helen Ruvelas
Nicholas Samaras
Minas Savvas
Hilary Sideris
Eleni Sikelianos
Diana Stamatelatos-Theocharis
Tryfon Tolides
Deno Trakas
