Manolis was born on the island of Crete in 1947. Educated in Greece (BA in Political Sciences, Panteios Supreme School of Athens), he served in the armed forces for two years, and immigrated to Vancouver in 1973, after which he worked in several different jobs over the years. He attended Simon Fraser University for a year taking English Literature in a non-degree program.
After working as an iron worker, train laborer, taxi driver, and stock broker, he now lives in White Rock where he spends his time writing, gardening, and travelling. Towards the end of 2006 he founded Libros Libertad, an independent publishing company in Surrey, B.C. with the goal of publishing literary books most other companies reject, thus giving voice to people who are not listened to by conventional publishers.
Using the pen name Manolis, Manolis Aligizakis has written novels and numerous books of poetry, as well as articles and short stories in Greek and English. Fellow Greek-Canadian writer Ilya Tourditis has endorsed Nuances by writing, "His canvas, like a Chagall painting, is a blend of moods and well crafted images, reflecting the many nuances of life — nuances that rise above the threshold of primal emotive scenes to where he stands as a poet, observing, contemplating, and arguing for the celebration of love in all its manifestations and connections." Another one of his authors, Luisa Maria Celis, has endorsed Rendition: "This is a vast landscape and the music in the words carries you to distant places with unassuming honesty."
BOOKS:
Triptych (Ekstasis Editions, 2010). Poetry
Vespers (Libros Libertad, 2010). Poetry. With art by Ken Kirkby.
Nuances (Ekstasis Editions, 2009). Poetry
Rendition (Libros Libertad, 2009). Poetry.
ISBN: 9780981073590 $14.95
Impulses (Libros Libertad, 2009). Poetry.
Troglodytes (Libros Libertad, 2008). Poetry.
Petros Spathis (Libros Libertad Publishing, 2007). Novel.
El Greco: Domenikos Theotokopoulos (Libros Libertad, 2007). Poetry
Path of Thorns (Libros Libertad, 2006). Poetry
Footprints in Sandstone (Authorhouse, 2006). Poetry
The Orphans: An Anthology (Authorhouse, 2005). Poetry
Stratis Roukounas (Greek language)(Aristidis Mavridis publishing, Athens Greece, 1981). Novel.
AlSO / TRANSLATION
Constantine P. Cafavy - Poems, edited by George Amabile (Libros Libertad, 2008)
[BCBW 2010] "Publishing" "Fiction" "Poetry" "Translation"
Petros Spathis by Manolis (Libros Libertad $22.95)
Review
from Cherie Thiessen
In the 1960s, as the only child of a hard-working farming couple on the harsh and beautifully stark island of Crete, Petros is sent to university in Athens where he excels beyond his parents’ wildest dreams.
Graduating at the top of his class, the budding academic has no shortage of admiring friends or consenting, beautiful young women.
Petros has been offered a position at the university, subject to his attaining an M.A. abroad. His doting uncle and aunt, with whom he has been staying in Athens, are wealthy and childless, so they’re eager to contribute to his international studies. But in literature, as in life, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
In Vancouver, where the Greek community welcomes him, Petros completes his graduate studies at the University of British Columbia. Samantha, an Italian Canadian beauty, can’t get enough of him, and he knows he can marry her and likely take over Samantha’s father’s successful restaurant, or even stay in Canada and accept a university position.
But Greece beckons. Ignoring constant warnings from his Dean, from Samantha, and his friends, Petros is not only tempted to return home to see Madga, the beautiful daughter of wealthy and influential parents, he also misses his parents and he has his ideals: Petros has promised to help his countrymen overthrow the military junta that has taken a stranglehold.
Often touted as the birthplace of democracy, Petros’ beloved Greece has been labouring under a repressive military regime ever since three right wing army officers staged a successful coup in 1967. Now spies are everywhere, neighbours can’t be trusted, and you must be very careful about what you say, and who you say it to.
Dissention can lead to disclosure, which can lead to disappearance. If you take a well-educated, idealistic and patriotic young man, and add an oppressive dictatorship, that can be a good recipe for martyrdom. To say much more is to give too much away.
During the seventies, most Canadians knew very little about what was happening within Greece, so in the spring of 1976 Manolis published a brief version of his novel’s storyline, Spathis-322, in Canadian Fiction Magazine.
“The condensed book was a piece that J. M. Yates and I worked on back in the 70s,” Manolis explains, “and it was 12 pages long. The first two pages of the new book are from that condensed form… So I re-wrote the book and added a few things. I deleted about fifty pages of the old text and historically placed the novel to be consistent with the November 17th events in Greece.”
The student uprising in Athens on November 17, 1973, at the same university where our hero encourages his students to join in the fight for freedom, is credited with the ideological collapse of the junta. The junta was not removed immediately, but those protests sounded the political death knell for the dictatorship.
Manolis has also added lashings of love and lust, and placed part of the story in Vancouver, but it’s the author’s love of his homeland that comes through most strongly in Petros Spathis.
Writing in a language other than in one’s native tongue is difficult to master. There are numerous instances of misplaced or omitted prepositions that could have easily been rectified. Some of the textual errors are funny, seriously messing with the mood of the story. As well, a discerning editor could have helped the author to more realistically represent the women in this story, and animate the central character.
Nevertheless, this novel is important. It shines a light on a time in Greece’s history about which little is known and lesser written.
Manolis was born on the island of Crete in 1947. Educated in Greece (BA in Political Sciences), he served in the armed forces for two years prior to his arrival in Canada. When Manolis—the pen name for Manolis Aligizakis—immigrated to Canada in 1973, one year before the junta disintegrated, he would have been about the same age as his protagonist in the novel.
Whereas the protagonist stays in Greece to try to make a difference, Manolis chose to leave. Petros says ‘no’ to Canada; Manolis said ‘yes,’ and by the novel’s end you will know who made the better choice. It’s almost as if Manolis has created Petros as his idealistic other half, motivating him do on the page what he probably longed to do in person.
978-0980897937
--review by Cherie Thiessen
[BCBW 2008]
El Greco by Manolis (Libros Libertad $14.95)
Review
from Cherie Thiessen
Since conceiving his imprint Libros Libertad in 2006, Manolis has published 11 works of poetry, memoirs, novels and diatribes including his own volume of poetry, El Greco, a tribute to the artist who is considered one the forerunners of Expressionism and Cubism.
Most widely known by his Spanish nickname, El Greco, the painter was born as Domenikos Theotokopoulos in 1541. He moved to Venice while in his twenties and settled in Toledo, Spain, where he died.
Calling El Greco a series of meditations, Manolis experiments with an offset four-line stanza form, and delights in spilling image upon image unto the page, images like mind grasping splinters. The poet’s humor bubbles up now and again, as in the first poem, Dawn, where death is personified and addressed directly by the poet, as they both share a non-fat latte.
The placement of many of El Greco’s works alongside the poetry adds another dimension to the work, enabling the reader to better appreciate Manolis’ inventive meditations.
978-0978186548
-- review by Cherie Thiessen
[BCBW 2008]
