9 July 1821

An epic poem on the 1821 events in Cyprus by Vassilis Michaelides.

Watch on YouTube here

Composed around 1890 and first published in 1911 the Cypriot dialect poem “ 9 July 1821” by Vassilis Michaelides vividly recounts the dramatic events of the year of revolution on Cyprus which culminated on that day in the execution of Archbishop Kyprianos, three other bishops and a large number of prominent Cypriots by the Turkish governor.

Dr Nicoletta Hadjipavlou will discuss the literary and historical aspects of this fascinating poem.

Dr Nicoletta Hadjipavlou specialises in the Greek literature and history of Cyprus. She completed her PhD research in 2015 at the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London. Her thesis examined the construction of the idea of empire in the Modern Greek poetry of Cyprus from 1878 to 2004 through the work of four seminal Cypriot poets: Vassilis Michaelides, Demetris Lipertis, Costas Montis and Kyriakos Charalambides.

Dr Hadjipavlou took part in a number of international conferences on Greek research in Australia, Canada, Germany, Cyprus and the United Kingdom presenting aspects of her work. Her research interests include postcolonial literature, history of empires, 19th and 20th century poetry, Greek as a second language and the relationship between heritage, culture and language. Between 2010 and 2019 she was a member of the Cyprus Educational Mission U.K. (K.E.A) and taught Greek both as a first and second language in schools in the U.K. Dr Hadjipavlou taught the module ‘Introduction to Modern Greek Language and Culture’ at the University of Cambridge between 2018 and 2019. She then moved to Cyprus where she is currently teaching Modern Greek language and literature at the American Academy Nicosia.

1821 Commemorative Lecture Series: The Greek War of Independence Revisited

Organised by the Hellenic Centre