Maria Strani-Potts was born in Corfu, Greece .
She graduated from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London. She has lived in Ethiopia, Kenya, England, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Australia. Maria now divides her time between Greece and England
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Books by Maria Strani-Potts
1. The Cat of Portovecchio, Corfu Tales"
Comments
She has the writer's eye for detail: for the small, unnoticed aspect of a thing that makes it immediately alive to us; the writer's sense of pace, that makes time, and room in the writing, so that everything finds its place; and the writer's unsparingness that makes truth more important to her than any desire to please. David Malouf, Sydney Book Launch
Read it, it'll change your life and the way you love (and live) the Corfu idyll. ISLAND Magazine
Maria Strani-Potts is incisive in her observations of her locale...Strani-Potts' writing is characterized by a relentless and seductive intelligence which can be cruel, compassionate and ironically amusing- often all at the same time. She is never less than provocative. A pleasure to read and, even for Corfiots, an education. Richard Pine, The Anglo-Hellenic Review
2. When The Sun Goes Down - Island Stories by Maria Strani-Potts (28 Nov 2012) Amazon kindle edition
Comments
By Chris Holmes
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
I declare an interest: I know Maria and to sit and talk to her is an
enjoyment separate from the powerful solitary pleasure of reading her.
She is the most unwriterly writer i know: talk is talk, writing is
writing; she gets the job done.
I still treasure her 'Cat of Portovecchio' as one of the most stunning novels I have read. Barely fiction for the pulses it taps; I live in Corfu and it opened my eyes and heart to my paradise home.
This collection is short stories and her pacing is spot-on. I've worked in the book business and touted short stories by famed novelists who just haven't pulled it off in the challenging discipline of condensing it down.
The PR puff talks of capturing 'the atmosphere and distinctive character of several different islands in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.' Piffle. No 'capture' about it; you are right there. As with the best movie scores, you dont notice the 'capture', you've been transported to the writer's world.
SWIMMING IN BERMUDA: tourist meets local. They talk in perfect pitch, Strani-Potts nailing the patois and the poshois. Like an onion, dark truths unpeel.
REHEARSING I DO: light-as-a-soufflé humour set on a French island, letting the deft words do the humour, nothing rammed down the writer's gullet. Wouldnt be surprised if readers who didnt 'get it' read this right thru, still enjoyed it, and wondered what had glided over their heads.
THE EXPLOITATION OF PANOREA: familiar to all who read 'To Poúlima tns Pavoraías', the no-punches-pulled exposé and battle-cry against the disgraceful desecration of our environment, in this case the jack-booted exploitation of 'an island in the Ionian'. No guesses.
ON THE BEACH: Tight and merciless. Women enjoying lulling and lolling over the usual evening ouzo; suddenly a floating corpse. In the midst of pampered leisure, Life - red (in this case, bloating) in scale and claw. A wake-up call that Strani-Potts keeps local, makes universal.
A remarkable collection. If I was handed them in separate sheaves, I'd not spot they were by the same nib. Chameleon brilliance. Mark of a bred-in-the-bone writer. Deserves to be spotted by some alert editorial assistant in one of the major houses and given the international readership Ms Potts deserves, and will achieve.
I still treasure her 'Cat of Portovecchio' as one of the most stunning novels I have read. Barely fiction for the pulses it taps; I live in Corfu and it opened my eyes and heart to my paradise home.
This collection is short stories and her pacing is spot-on. I've worked in the book business and touted short stories by famed novelists who just haven't pulled it off in the challenging discipline of condensing it down.
The PR puff talks of capturing 'the atmosphere and distinctive character of several different islands in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.' Piffle. No 'capture' about it; you are right there. As with the best movie scores, you dont notice the 'capture', you've been transported to the writer's world.
SWIMMING IN BERMUDA: tourist meets local. They talk in perfect pitch, Strani-Potts nailing the patois and the poshois. Like an onion, dark truths unpeel.
REHEARSING I DO: light-as-a-soufflé humour set on a French island, letting the deft words do the humour, nothing rammed down the writer's gullet. Wouldnt be surprised if readers who didnt 'get it' read this right thru, still enjoyed it, and wondered what had glided over their heads.
THE EXPLOITATION OF PANOREA: familiar to all who read 'To Poúlima tns Pavoraías', the no-punches-pulled exposé and battle-cry against the disgraceful desecration of our environment, in this case the jack-booted exploitation of 'an island in the Ionian'. No guesses.
ON THE BEACH: Tight and merciless. Women enjoying lulling and lolling over the usual evening ouzo; suddenly a floating corpse. In the midst of pampered leisure, Life - red (in this case, bloating) in scale and claw. A wake-up call that Strani-Potts keeps local, makes universal.
A remarkable collection. If I was handed them in separate sheaves, I'd not spot they were by the same nib. Chameleon brilliance. Mark of a bred-in-the-bone writer. Deserves to be spotted by some alert editorial assistant in one of the major houses and given the international readership Ms Potts deserves, and will achieve.
