Pria Louka (USA/Greece)

I grew up somewhere halfway across the Atlantic, between the United States (Princeton, NJ) and Athens, Greece. My undergraduate studies at Princeton University oscillated between the sciences and the literary arts, culminating in a BA in Chemistry and a certificate in Hellenic Studies (2020). I am equally fascinated by the alchemical processes behind “creating” literature and the art of scientific writing.

During a translation course in my senior year at Princeton, I discovered how even a single poem on a page could provide rich ground for an in-depth study of language and culture—a vehicle into the hidden enclaves of language, revealing roots and archaic connotations that nonetheless colour a poem vividly.

My recent publication, Abyss and Song (World Poetry Books, 2023), comprises the first English-language collection of poetry by the modern Greek poet George Sarantaris. This bilingual Italian-Greek poet from the interwar period wrote succinct, delicate poems expansive in their imagery and in the silences they “render,” reflecting the reverence and adoration Sarantaris held for the Greek language, which he learned as a secondary tongue and chose for his poetry. This project came to fruition alongside my Master’s in Modern Greek Literature at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2024).

Prior to this Master’s degree, I pursued research supported by the Fulbright Foundation at the University of Crete as a Fellow with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies. My research focused on how the avant-garde theatre scene in the U.S.—specifically the Off-Broadway movement of the 1950s and ’60s—helped shape new visions and initiatives regarding the evolution of the theatre scene in modern Greece. Catalytic developments were sparked by propositions from the major (yet often overlooked) literary figure George Theotokas, who spearheaded the Generation of ’30 literary movement.

Generally, I am interested in the interwar and post-war generations of Greek poets whose visions propelled literary currents, spurring a new, invigorating Greek literature—a “modern” Greek literature. I look forward to exploring those voices not embraced by the “official” modern Greek canon taught in schools—voices that truly sought a rebirth of the self through poetry. In re-searching the self, they expanded the scope of language, reconceiving grammatical syntax, and formulating synthetic words. I am particularly drawn to bilingual and multilingual poets who crafted unique poetic idioms, moving between languages in a synergistic, hybridized approach—engaging with Modern Greek through both play and struggle, embodying the very spirit of research itself. As an Ertegun scholar at Oxford, I aim to uncover these “lost” voices that helped unlock the spiralling potential of the modern Greek language.