Voice of Greece, the radio station of ERT dedicated to Greeks worldwide, with a focus on spreading, supporting, and promoting the Greek language and culture, has included in its programming the two-minute poetry features titled “Poet of the Week” and “Poetess of the Week.”
Each week is dedicated to a contemporary Greek poet or poetess, including poets from the Diaspora. The poets themselves curate the radio performances, with their poems accompanied by music from beloved creators. Seven poems each week, one Greek poem every day, travel through “Voice of Greece” to the corners of the earth where Greek voices are heard.
The week from 17/2/25 to 23/2/25 is dedicated to poetess Assimina Xirogianni.
Music curation: Maria Rempoutsika
Sound curation: Eleftheria Papoutsaki
Broadcast: Monday to Friday at 07:00 and 19:00 Athens time, and on the weekend at 19:00.
Assimina Xirogianni (1975-) is a theatre scholar, philologist, and author. She publishes poetry, prose, and theatre works. She studied acting at the Theatre Workshop (Empros) and has a Master’s in Theatre Studies from the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Athens (specializing in Theatre Pedagogy). Her thesis focused on theatre and creative writing. She worked for 19 years in primary education as a theatre scholar and theatre game facilitator, staging numerous performances with her students and creating many educational programs (mainly on Shakespeare, Aristophanes, and creative writing). In recent years, she has been teaching Modern and Ancient Greek Literature, History, and Philosophy in secondary education. Her poems have been translated into English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Romanian. Her essays, articles, and critical writings are published in print and online literary journals and blogs. In 2023, she was nominated for the Poetry Award of the Thessaloniki Writers’ Association for her book Mia Aperaanti Matia (Vachikon Publishers). Her book Epohi mou einai i poiisi (Gavriilidis 2013) is published in France in a translation by Michel Volkovitch (Mon époque, c’est la poésie, Le miel des anges). In 2019, she introduced Mark Strand to the Greek public with the anthology Prosorini Aioniotita (Vachikon Publishers), in which she translates iconic poems by the award-winning Canadian poet. In 2009, she founded the literary blog varelaki (https://varelaki.blogspot.com/), and in 2021, the blog theatriki agogi (https://theatrikiagogicom.wordpress.com/about/). Her personal blog is https://ouevilblog.wordpress.com/.
