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ANTIGONE KEFALA MEMORIAL PRIZE
Antigone Kefala (28 May 1931 - 3 December 2022) was an Australian poet and prose-writer of Greek-Romanian heritage. Born in Braila, Romania, the family were forced to flee in 1947 when communist Russia took over the country. They lived for four years in a Greek refugee centre until New Zealand finally accepted them.
Antigone studied at the Victoria University in Wellington and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958 followed by a Master’s degree in French Literature. In 1959 Antigone left for Sydney so that she could make a fresh start. In the mid-1970s she became the first Multicultural Arts Officer for the Australia Council, responsible for encouraging migrants across Australia to apply for grants in all the creative arts: literature, music, theatre and the visual arts. Antigone established many lasting friendships there.
Although fluent in Romanian and French, Antigone chose to write in English as she believed one has to write in the language in which one is living. It took some time for the strength and fearlessness of Antigone’s voice to be recognised. Antigone wrote about everyday life, her voice by turns lyrical and trenchant. It wasn’t until her first book of poems The Alien was published in 1973 that her work finally began to attract serious attention. She went on to become one of the few non-Anglo women of her generation to achieve a literary career. During her lifetime she published six volumes of poetry, four works of fiction, and three collections of journals.
A teacher, arts administrator and acclaimed author, Antigone won the Judith Wright Calanthe Award in 2017 and the Patrick White Award in 2022 in recognition of her achievements as a poet and writer.
As a woman and a refugee, Antigone Kefala overcame many obstacles to achieve a university education and a literary career. She was also an inspiring and generous mentor to students and young writers.
Ivor Indyk, Emeritus Professor in the The Writing and Society Research Centre, UWS and Antigone’s publisher since 2002, has written: 'Antigone Kefala is one of the finest Australian poets, highly regarded for the intensity of her vision, yet not widely known, on account of her minimalism, and the small number of poems she has published, each carefully worked, each magical or menacing in its effects'*.
The Antigone Kefala Memorial prize has been established to encourage emerging writers at Western Sydney University from refugee, asylum-seeker, migrant or First Nations backgrounds where English may not be their first language. Please donate generously to help keep Antigone's legacy alive.
*Edited notes from ‘FINDING A VOICE: ANTIGONE KEFALA 1931-2022: An Exhibition of her Life and Work’ by Beth Hatton.
Thank you.
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