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
With his airy smile still reflecting bygone glorious days
he stood amid the gravestones
and statuettes resembling our dead comrades lost in battle
or in a hutment drenched in blood.
Suddenly his eyes dived deep into mine he let a sigh go as silently as the statuettes and whispered: only this graceful smile will stay forever remember this at the hour of reckoning
only this graceful smile remains all the rest perish, vanish like the fragrance of hyacinths in the wind’s blow like the love you make to a woman like the sand through a sieve or the fingers of your hand
yet this moment will last forever because only the now can’t be divided
for everything else, they have found pieces, fractions, and elements.
Φορές-φορές, την ώρα που βραδιάζει, έχω την αίσθηση πως έξω απ’ τα παράθυρα περνάει ο αρκουδιάρης με τη γριά βαριά του αρκούδα με το μαλλί της όλο αγκάθια και τριβόλια σηκώνοντας σκόνη στο συνοικιακό δρόμο ένα ερημικό σύννεφο σκόνη που θυμιάζει το σούρουπο και τα παιδιά έχουν γυρίσει σπίτια τους για το δείπνο και δεν τ’ αφήνουν πια να βγουν έξω μ’ όλο που πίσω απ’ τους τοίχους μαντεύουν το περπάτημα της γριάς αρκούδας – κι η αρκούδα κουρασμένη πορεύεται μες στη σοφία της μοναξιάς της, μην ξέροντας για που και γιατί- έχει βαρύνει, δεν μπορεί πια να χορεύει στα πισινά της πόδια δεν μπορεί να φοράει τη δαντελένια σκουφίτσα της να διασκεδάζει τα παιδιά, τους αργόσχολους, τους απαιτητικούς, και το μόνο που θέλει είναι να πλαγιάσει στο χώμα αφήνοντας να την πατάνε στην κοιλιά, παίζοντας έτσι το τελευταίο παιχνίδι της, δείχνοντας την τρομερή της δύναμη για παραίτηση, την ανυπακοή της στα συμφέροντα των άλλων, στους κρίκους των χειλιών της, στην ανάγκη των δοντιών της, την ανυπακοή της στον πόνο και στη ζωή με τη σίγουρη συμμαχία του θανάτου – έστω κι ενός αργού θανάτου – την τελική της ανυπακοή στο θάνατο με τη συνέχεια και τη γνώση της ζωής που ανηφοράει με γνώση και με πράξη πάνω απ τη σκλαβιά της.
Sometimes as evening comes I have the emotion
that outside the windows the bear handler goes by with
his old heavy she-bear
her hair full of thorns and thistles
creating dust on the neighborhood road
a lonely cloud of dust that rises like incense in the sundown
and the children return to their homes for supper and
are not allowed out anymore
although behind the walls they guess the old
bear’s footsteps –
and the tired bear marches in the wisdom of her loneliness
not knowing where or why –
she has grown heavy and she can’t dance on her hind legs
anymore
she can’t put on her lacy bonnet to entertain the children
the loafers or the ones who are hard to please
and the only thing she wants is to lie down on the ground
letting them step on her belly thus playing her
last game
showing her formidable power for resignation
her disobedience to others’ interests the rings in her lips
the needs of her teeth
her disobedience to pain and life
with her certain alliance with death – even a slow death –
her final disobedience to death with the continuance
and knowledge of life
that ascends with wisdom and action above her slavery