The Once and Future President
by Elias Kulukundis The year is 2024. The president of the United States is a Minotaur. Improbably, he is named Trump, a hybrid King Lear and Richard the Third, who has survived the Battle of Bosworth Field, first by claiming exemption for bone-spurs, then fleeing the field, crying, “A whore, a whore, my kingdom for […]
Another Third Advent Weekend in Berlin
This weekend is the third Sunday of Advent and I’m in Berlin where I was last year at this time. But this year the feeling is quite different. The apartment building next to mine where a fire broke out has been almost completely rebuilt. The structure is finished, and they are ready to start doing […]
Νέο βιβλίο “ Απρόσιτες Ακτές- Η ζωή σε μια ελληνική εφοπλιστική οικογένεια”,
Το νέο βιβλίο του Ηλία Κουλουκουντή “Απρόσιτες Ακτές- Η ζωή σε μια ελληνική εφοπλιστική οικογένεια” κυκλοφορεί τον Οκτώβριο απο τις εκδόσεις Ποταμός (scroll down fοr English) Ο Ηλίας Κουλουκουντής ξεκίνησε ένα κύκλο αυτοβιογραφικών βιβλίων όταν ήταν είκοσι επτά ετών, ακολουθώντας τη συμβουλή του Isaac Singer προς νέους συγγραφείς να γράψουν κάτι που μόνο αυτοί θα […]
Καλοκαίρι στο Γουέτσεστερ
Απόσπασμα απο το νέο βιβλίου του Ηλία Κουλουκουντή «Απρόσιτες Ακτές – Η ζωή σε μια Ελληνική Εφοπλιστική Οικογένεια» Μέρος πρώτο – Πρώτο Πέρασμα Παιδικά χρόνια – 5. Το πρώτο καλοκαίρι μετά την αναχώρηση της Μις Πρού, έτρεχα ανάμεσα στις καμπίνες των ανδρών πηγαίνοντας προς την πισίνα με τα γυμνά μου πόδια να χτυπάνε στις σανίδες […]
Τα παιδικά χρόνια της μητέρας μου
Απόσπασμα απο το νέο βιβλίου του Ηλία Κουλουκουντή «Απρόσιτες Ακτές – Η ζωή μου σε μια Ελληνική Εφοπλιστική Οικογένεια» Μέρος πρώτο – Πρώτο Πέρασμα Παιδικά χρόνια – 4. Η μητέρα μου είχε μεγαλώσει σε ένα προστατευμένο περιβάλλον. Ήταν χαϊδεμένη από τους γονείς της και περικυκλωμένη από τις ανύπαντρες θείες που καταδυνάστευαν ακόμα και τη δική […]
The Anniversary of the Bard
In this year of the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, imagine if we all talked to each other in Shakespearean verse? A few years ago I received a telephone call from the Roundabout Theater in New York, soliciting a donation, as I was having dinner. I professed to be shocked. I wrote: To the […]
Christmas 1974
Read an excerpt from Elias Kulukundis’ next book “Bold Coasts” Lucy and I spent our first Christmas together with Lucy’s parents in Chichester, a small Roman city, built slightly inland from where the Sussex coast is now. As we went in the Platt’s kitchen door, Lucy’s mother said “You’re very welcome.” The next moment, Lucy’s […]
A first-hand life with a second-hand car
First Passage – Chapter 35: The Next Steps As you can read here, Elias received an Alpha Romeo Giulietta Spider as a gift from his father, and seemed to always have trouble with it’s maintenance. […] Going north toward the New Hampshire border on I-95, there was a most horrendous noise which sounded like large […]
An autobiography of everything that did not happen to me
Excerpt from the afterword for the recent e-Edition of The Feasts of Memory by Dr. Eleftheria Arapoglou […] “Kulukundis journeys from America to Kasos to discover and connect with his roots, to reconstruct his past, to piece his life together and to connect with his ethnic identity. The act of travelling back to his […]
A call for attention
First Passage – Chapter 15: A Marriage for Cocktails […] “Elia! Elia!” I heard a voice behind me call, in Tata’s apartment on December 6, 1968. I turned and who should it be but Onassis. […] Taken aback, I said in Greek, “Hello, how are you?” And the next moment, I had another surprise –Onassis said […]
An outdated gift
As you can read here, Elias had always had trouble getting his father to actually listen to his real need, including buying him the car he wanted. First Passage – Chapter 23: An Improvement Then I had a surprise. One day, standing in the driveway under the sycamore trees at my parents’ home, was an […]
A nightingale sang on Russell Square
An excerpt from Elias’s book about the shipping business, “Bold Coasts” expected late 2016 early 2017. Yesterday I flew from Athens to New York via Zurich. My daughter lives in New York, and I flew here to be around for her birthday later this week. As the plane flew out across the North Atlantic, a […]
