Dimitra Kationi’s poetry collection brings contemporary Greek verse to Estonian readers

Dimitra Kationi’s collection “Loomad-taimed” is an exceptionally rare example of contemporary Greek poetry published in Estonian, according to a review by Sofia-Elizaveta Katkova for ERR. The review first appeared in Värske Rõhk. The 2026 book was translated by Karoliina Kagovere and published by Opa! Publishing.

A rare voice in Estonian translation

Katkova recalls hearing a man in a library ask where to find books about airplanes. The simple question made her think about how difficult she would find it to ask a librarian for contemporary Greek poetry in Estonian translation.

Some earlier Greek poetry has appeared in Estonian. In 1980, Loomingu Raamatukogu published Odisseas Elitis’s poem “Õige on = To axion esti,” translated by Kalle Kasemaa. Konstantinos Kavafis’s poems followed in 1989, translated by Mati Sirkel. Kaarina Rein has also translated and published Greek poetry. But Katkova says she found no collection by a contemporary Greek-language poet published in Estonian in the 21st century, making “Loomad-taimed” an exceptional addition.

A poet’s view of identity and tradition

Translator Karoliina Kagovere describes Kationi as someone who knows who she is and why she lives as she does. Born in 1983, Kationi is a former lawyer who now works as a musician and poet.

In an interview included after the review’s afterword, Kationi discusses contemporary Greek poetry. She says it tends to move away from everyday life and politics, and gives more attention to the LGBT community than to heterosexual women.

Katkova finds Kationi’s thinking considered and praises her view that national identity is constructed. Kationi says Greek identity is especially burdened by the legacy of ancient Greece, Orthodox Christianity and German Romanticism. Although she identifies as an atheist, she recognises that Orthodoxy is inevitably part of her as a Greek.

Katkova refers to T. S. Eliot’s essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” which argues that a poet’s significance cannot be understood in isolation from the artists who came before. That connection, the reviewer notes, does not mean poetry must be read only through literary history or a culture-specific framework built around its author.