26. Historical present & multilingual musicality: remembering Antigone Kefala

About this episode

This episode reflects on the life and impact of Antigone Kefala, exploring her contributions to Australian literature and her unique voice as a multilingual writer.

What does it mean to write in a language that isn’t your first — and to transform it completely? Antigone Kefala arrived in Australia from war-torn Europe and went on to reshape Australian literature with prose that was spare, luminous and unflinching. In this episode of Fully Lit Live , recorded at Gleebooks, writers, scholars and close friends reflect on her life, her exile and her modernism — and on the fierce clarity of a voice that refused to belong neatly anywhere. For some of the speakers, Kefala was a literary influence. For others, she was a close friend — someone whose wit, irony and indomitable spirit they continue to miss deeply. Together, they consider her historical present, her multilingual musicality, and her lasting impact on Australian letters. Antigone was a literary original. Voices Hosted by publisher and friend of Antigone, Ivor Indyk , the event brought together: Mireille Juchau — award-winning novelist, essayist and critic, and Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney. Her novels include Machines for Feeling , Burning In , and The World Without Us , which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. She wrote the introduction to Antigone…

People in this episode

Host: Ivor Indyk

Guests: Mireille Juchau, Anna Couani, Brigid Rooney

Topics covered

• literature
• exile
• multilingualism
• Australian literature
• influence
• modernism

Keywords

• Antigone Kefala
• Australian literature
• multilingual
• modernism
• exile
• literary influence
• Ivor Indyk

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, The Shop Gallery

Books & works: Machines for Feeling, Burning In, The World Without Us, Antigone Kefala: Collected Fiction

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