Print Publication
Currently featuring: The Santorini Poems
The poems in this collection are a window onto the Greek landscape, registering the sights and sounds of its unbounded splendor—the coffee grounds, the komboloi, the olive grove. . . . Comprised of free verse and haiku, this volume of image-based narrative will delight the novice as well as the scholar with its focus on Greek history and mythology.
With an outsider’s eye, Karabetsos’ verse observes the details passed over by tourists and locals. This is a young man at a crossroads, in the world and in his life—looking on with wonder and passion, looking on, and finding his voice.
Quotes
“When the reader encounters these remarkable Santorini Poems he embarks on a journey; challenging, arduous but in the end intensely and immensely rewarding.”
—Daniel Reardon
“He has a voice.”
—Brendan Kennelly in response to Karabetsos’ Santorini Poems
About the Author
John Karabetsos was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1972—the son of an English Professor and the second oldest of five brothers. Early on, he was drawn to narrative art: first in photography, then later at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he studied literature and theater.
As Karabetsos was completing his studies in Ann Arbor, his mentor Trianos Giagos, Professor of Papyrology and Greek, encouraged him to search deeper into the artistic consciousness of Western culture—and to do so specifically in Greece. He thus enrolled at Arcadia University in Athens, Greece in 1994. Later that year, Karabetsos retreated to the island of Santorini and composed the present collection, The Santorini Poems, the first significant work of his career.
Since then, Karabetsos has continued to explore Western culture in a variety of media, always stressing commonality rather than difference. His photography has been exhibited at galleries in Dublin, Detroit, and Cleveland. He is a published journalist and member of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association, having produced articles on the skiing industry as well as providing live correspondence from Turin, Italy for Detroit Public Radio, WRJC, during the 2006 Winter Olympics. More recently, Karabetsos has been focusing on performance art. He directed a feature film in Port Laoise, Ireland titled, Vincent van Gogh: 70 Days in Laois. He is currently preparing his play on the life of photographer Vivian Maier.
