Live Encounters Greek Poets & Writers September 2026
My Lilith, poems by Anna Griva.
Translated from Greek by Aristi Trendel.
My Lilith
They say you long for the seed of men
and that you like to wander in the dark.
But I am not a man,
nor will you find me walking the streets at night.
Then why do you visit me?
Why do you love me?
Perhaps you have learned that we are sisters
wandering demons
in secret gardens,
daughters of silence,
weavers of desire.
Blood does not turn to water,
however many centuries may pass.
The gene binds us,
an inherited disposition
toward ecstasy.
The Lost Goddess, Melani, 2023
To Love
O my bee!
Why do I chase you?
For your wings?
For your honey?
Or perhaps it is
your sting that I desire
that bitter tip,
that dark needle
that, little by little,
weaves
who I am?
(Unpublished)
© Anna Griva
Anna Griva studied Philology in Athens and Rome and holds a PhD in Italian Renaissance Literature. She has published six poetry collections. Her collection The Lost Goddess (Melani, 2023) received the Greek National Poetry Award, while her collection Demons (Melani, 2020) was honored with an award from the Academy of Athens. She has also published a collection of short stories, The Animal Gods (Kichli, 2021), and three historical novels: The Alchemist (Melani, 2026), which received the First Prize of the UNESCO Club for Arts, Literature and Sciences of Greece; The Greek Slave (Melani, 2022); and Exiled Queens (Melani, 2021). Her works have been translated into numerous languages. She is also a translator of Italian literature. Her translation of the poems of Laura Battiferra received an award from the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens. Griva has published a study of Plato’s Parmenides, Ontology of the One in the Platonic Theory of Ideas (Zetros, 2021), and a monograph on Sapphic poetry, Aphrodites (Smili, 2022). She teaches Italian Literature and Creative Writing at the Hellenic Open University and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.