Cretan Canadian Poet, Author, Translator, Publisher
Author: vequinox
BIOGRAPHY
Manolis (Emmanuel Aligizakis) is a Greek-Canadian poet and author. He was recently appointed an honorary instructor and fellow of the International Arts Academy, and awarded a Master’s for the Arts in Literature. He is recognized for his ability to convey images and thoughts in a rich and evocative way that tugs at something deep within the reader. Born in the village of Kolibari on the island of Crete in 1947, he moved with his family at a young age to Thessaloniki and then to Athens, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences from the Panteion University of Athens. After graduation, he served in the armed forces for two years and emigrated to Vancouver in 1973, where he worked as an iron worker, train labourer, taxi driver, and stock broker, and studied English Literature at Simon Fraser University. He has written three novels and numerous collections of poetry, which are steadily being released as published works. His articles, poems and short stories in both Greek and English have appeared in various magazines and newspapers in Canada, United States, Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Australia, and Greece. His poetry has been translated into Spanish, Romanian, Swedish, German, Hungarian languages and has been published in book form or in magazines in various countries. He now lives in White Rock, where he spends his time writing, gardening, traveling, and heading Libros Libertad, an unorthodox and independent publishing company which he founded in 2006 with the mission of publishing literary books. His translation book “George Seferis-Collected Poems” was shortlisted for the Greek National Literary Awards the highest literary recognition of Greece.
Distinguished Awards
Winner of the Dr. Asha Bhargava Memorial Award, Writers International Network Canada, 2014
“George Seferis-Collected Poems” translated by Manolis, shortlisted for the Greek National Literary Awards, translation category.
1st International Poetry Prize for his translation of “George Seferis-Collected Poems”, 2013
Master of the Arts in Literature, International Arts Academy, 2013
1st Prize for poetry, 7th Volos poetry Competition, 2012
Honorary instructor and fellow, International Arts Academy, 2012
2nd Prize for short story, Interartia festival, 2012
2nd Prize for Poetry, Interartia Festival, 2012
2nd Prize for poetry, Interartia Festival, 2011
3rd prize for short stories, Interartia Festival, 2011
Books by Manolis
Autumn Leaves, poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2014
Übermensch/Υπεράνθρωπος, poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2013
Mythography, paintings and poetry, Libros Libertad, 2012
Nostos and Algos, poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2012
Vortex, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2011
The Circle, novel, Libros Libertad, 2011
Vernal Equinox, poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2011
Opera Bufa, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2010
Vespers, poetry by Manolis paintings by Ken Kirkby, Libros Libertad, 2010
Triptych, poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2010
Nuances, poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2009
Rendition, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2009
Impulses, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2009
Troglodytes, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2008
Petros Spathis, novel, Libros Libertad, 2008
El Greco, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2007
Path of Thorns, poetry, Libros Libertad, 2006
Footprints in Sandstone, poetry, Authorhouse, Bloomington, Indiana, 2006
The Orphans - an Anthology, poetry, Authorhouse, Bloomington, Indiana, 2005
Translations by Manolis
Idolaters, a novel by Joanna Frangia, Libros Libertad, 2014
Tasos Livaditis-Selected Poems, Libros Libertad, 2014
Yannis Ritsos-Selected Poems, Ekstasis Editions, 2013
Cloe and Alexandra-Selected Poems, Libros Libertad, 2013
George Seferis-Collected Poems, Libros Libertad, 2012
Yannis Ritsos-Poems, Libros Libertad, 2010
Constantine P. Cafavy - Poems, Libros Libertad, 2008
Cavafy-Selected Poems, Ekstasis Editions, 2011
Books in other languages
Eszmelet, (Hungarian), poetry by Manolis Aligizakis, translated into Hungarian by Karoly Csiby, AB-ART, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2014
Hierodoules, (Greek), poetry, Sexpirikon, Salonica, Greece, 2014
Yperanthropos,(Greek), poetry, ENEKEN Publications, Salonica, Greece, 2014
Übermensch (German), poetry by Manolis Aligizakis, translated into German by Eniko Thiele Csekei, WINDROSE, Austria, 2014
Nostos si Algos, (Romanian) poetry by Manolis Aligizakis, translated into Romanian by Lucia Gorea, DELLART, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2013
Tolmires Anatasis, (Greek) poetry, GAVRIILIDIS EDITIONS, Athens, Greece, 2013
Filloroes, (Greek ) poetry, ENEKEN PUBLICATIONS, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2013
Earini Isimeria, (Greek) poetry, ENEKEN PUBLICATIONS, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2011
Stratis o Roukounas, (Greek) novel, MAVRIDIS EDITIONS, Athens, Greece, 1981
Magazines
Canadian Fiction Magazine—Victoria, BC
Pacific Rim Review of Books—Victoria, BC
Canadian Poetry Review—Victoria, BC
Monday Poem, Leaf Press-Lantzville, BC
The Broadkill Review, Milton, Delaware
Ekeken, Thessaloniki, Greece
Envolimon, Beotia, Greece
Annual Literary Review, Athens, Greece
Stigmes, Crete, Greece
Apodimi Krites, Crete, Greece
Patris, Crete, Greece
Nyxta-Mera, Chania, Greece
Wallflowers, Thessaloniki, Greece
Diasporic Literature Spot, Melbourne, Australia
Black Sheep Dances, California, USA
Diasporic Literature Magazine, Melbourne, Australia
Spotlight on the Arts, Surrey, BC
Barnwood, International Poetry Magazine, Seattle, USA
Unrorean, University of Maine, Farmington, Maine, USA
Vakhikon, Athens, Greece
Paremvasi, Kozani, Greece
Szoros Ko, Bratislava, Slovakia
Mediterranean Poetry, Sweden
Apostaktirio, Athens, Greece
Life and Art, Athens, Greece
Logos and Images, Athens, Greece
Contemporary Writers and Thinkers, Athens, Greece
Palinodiae, Athens, Greece
Royal City Poet’s Anthology, 2013, New Westminster, BC, Canada
To parathyro, Paris, France
Ragazine C.C, New Jersey
Artenistas, Athens Greece
Deucalion the Thessalos, Greece.
Literary Lectern, Athens, Greece
Homo Universalis, Athens Greece
The Flag don’t disregard love the crying eyes aren’t beautiful however, don’t delay: you’ll come back soon, won’t you? each time I dare something that cloud of hope comes with white and soft rosy tricky lace. Be serious: it’s impossible to set the guillotine daily slowly your hair will turn white: white flag. The other flag is the sign that you give up and that the castles tumble forever
Justification I strode over fallen branches victims of last night’s merciless wind I listened to music in tune with endless perfection when I heard the chirp of the bird raised my head saw it, a chickadee shivering, singing, laughing on the tree limb justification that I was alive this morning
Days of 1896 He was utterly disgraced. One of his erotic inclinations, literally forbidden and condemned (nonetheless inbred), was the reason: Society was quite puritanical. Bit by bit, he lost what little money he had. Then he lost his position and his reputation. He was close to thirty years old without ever having worked as long as a year at least at a job we know of. Sometimes he earned his expenses from Interceding in deals that were considered shameful. He ended up being the type of person who, if you were seen with him often, it was possible that you could be seriously discredited. But this is not the whole story. It wouldn’t be right. Above all, his beauty needs to be mentioned. There is another point of view, and if he is seen from that angle he appears likable; he seems simple and pure young man of love who, without any thought placed above his honour and his reputation the sensual delight of his innocent flesh. And his reputation? But society, prudish and stupid, made comparisons.
Matter of Lighting All these took place because each night I followed my impulse and each time I passed the bridge I felt my life more foreign to me or I recalled that I never kissed father while he was alive, despite of all our poverty, or my cup that dwelt in heavens since I had always been accommodated in the kitchen and since one of my legs had rotted in the rain, the others had to manage my birds, thus I became an easy target; therefore I now sit in my room where, with a few cognacs, I finally regain a meaning or I mix with strange things: sometimes the soup bowl that steamed in the middle of family supper and other times this horrible murder you find when you raise the lamp a little higher.
WINTER LANDSCAPE The grotesque full moon like a slab of ice, motionless, standing in the middle of sea, and a big silent reef, as exposed as my palm with an old, sad, tragically small cane stick and a shadow-something, that I don’t know what I’ve lost, returns, unable to becalm that lost trio frozen and fully lit in a silent vigil in the night, in the cold
Hand Ah, the feathery touch of a hand unable to commit to darkness and the limping sparrow hops and marvels at his reflection in the shallow puddle thinking he is the smartest airflow just before the falcon’s claws dive in the fluff of his feathers ah, the diaphanous laughter of the creek unable to commit to the ocean and the lonely trout marvels at his swiftness searching for a mate against autumnal rush of water thinking he is the smartest water lily just before the man’s hook sets its claw deep in his mouth
Loneliness Sorrow was hanging in the air; the leafless branches behind the railings and you were alone by the window. The night passed in front of your door; it left like a beloved woman, a woman that another man was holding from the waist. And the moon, like a calm, turned off light bulb at the turn of the road above the drug store.
Paris Oh Paris, it was time when I scattered my dreams in your dark mornings and now I leave you taking with me the sorrowful joy that I love you. The Mediterranean delicate siren that flows around our ship with all its frothy lilies now takes me away from you but we shall meet again in the future when light will come carefully to open my eyes before the gleaming blue day that helps me live with your memory and then its islands will charge Athens, I know, isn’t far behind and they’ll stand and fight my sinful love for you, oh Paris, and they will wish me to forget how sweetly I gave you my soul not longing to meet anyone when I aimlessly saunter in your streets
Gratitude The sense of gratitude passing through me slowly reaches the forests that root in the wind days in tomorrow’s train stations we live in nameless streets by the riverbanks of every number the cosmos will forget all who loved it and it won’t know the number of stars each person hides in their heart forgotten in the old mistakes all lovers are holy and sinful Eros is a thirst for whom will be betrayed shining moment that suddenly arrives and vanishes in the whirl of eternity. And if the road is full of truths the inexplicable moment is still far away the dream dives into the void and writes about chancy destinations in this version of history they keep time and light like a legacy of nothing they inherit from generation to generation an untidiness of improvisation a vigilant attraction. Outside something like a forged spring and the forever illusion of keys that open the wide-open door.