Writing what's in your heart

Greek author Theodor Kallifatides appeared at this year’s Festivaletteratura in Basilica Platina di Santa Babara to reflect on his life and an almost sixty-year literary career. His warmth and openness dissolved the distance between author and audience, creating the feeling that we had been invited into his living room, sitting around a table with a cup of coffee, listening to anecdotes and stories about his life, his family, Greece, and Sweden.

After emigrating to Sweden in 1964, Kallifatides quickly mastered Swedish and began studying philosophy. By 1969, he had published his debut poetry collection, dedicated to his wife. Writing in Swedish granted him a new sense of freedom and ease, although he returned to Greek for his most personal novels. Memory, childhood, and family resonated in his native tongue.

Kallifatides started writing after witnessing a public execution in his village in Greece, aged five. The event prompted him to run home and immediately record what he had seen on a piece of paper. Through writing, he discovered, he found consolation. When his father returned home later that day, Kallifatides showed him the page. His father read it silently, slipped it into his jacket pocket, and kept it there for the rest of his life.

Talking about his mother, Kallifatides described a unique dynamic where he often felt more like her protector than her child. However, it was his mother who saved him during his lowest point. After being rejected numerous times from university, despite excellent grades, he sank into deep despair and contemplated ending his life. Sensing his agony, his mother looked at him and said, "One day they will be ashamed, my boy." His mother’s words helped to restore his hope and gave him the strength to keep going.

Kallifatides concluded by talking about his second love, his wife. Her support was constant from the beginning. She was the only person who did not laugh when he declared his ambitious goal to write in Swedish. Kallifatides noted that while writing is inherently a lonely profession, no writer truly stands alone. You need a lot of people around you to write, people who support you, encourage you, help you.

Kallifatides’ conversation at Festivaletteratura was a truly special and intimate encounter, leaving the audience with a sense of closeness and inspiration.