“Transparent Windows” is a book club which was launched in 2007 by students of the School of English of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki under the support of EKEVI (National Book Centre of Greece). “Transparent Windows,” as suggested by its name, wishes to broaden the students’ horizons and enhance their creativity through their engagement with the reading of an array of “texts” resulting from the Anglophone literary/artistic production.
Since 2008 the group has dealt with several texts that correspond to the kind of courses the School of English offers. Particular attention is paid to the exploration and experimentation with various forms of “textulaity.” After having read a text, the students are invited to respond critically to it or draw a character analysis on the basis of various theoretical perspectives (i.e gender) as well as exchange views and opinions, openly and non-judgmentally, within a friendly environment. The aim of the book club is to focus on the thinking process, mould fresh ideas and promote dialogue on various issues pertaining to literary analysis and writing. Students are challenged to freely voice their personal viewpoints about what they have read in addition to commenting on the aesthetics and the narrative techniques each writer employs as well as evaluating the effect these have on the understanding of the texts under discussion.
Furthermore, the student members of the book club are sometimes engaged with the re-writing of the texts they have already worked on as this derives from their emotional response to them, intuition and improvisatory skills. What is more, students attempt to bridge the art of writing with the art of cinematography by comparing and contrasting novels with their film adaptations during the organization of special screening sessions.
The members of the book club usually meet twice a month (watch out for our announcements). Since reading is not an old-fashioned activity as many may believe, this book club wishes to open a “window” to art, culture and creativity.
The facebook link is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/139206926147510/
Please email us at:
transparentwindows@enl.auth.gr
| Workshop Type | Date | Title | Guest speaker(s) |
| CELEBRATION OF CREATIVITY | January 21st, 2022 | "A Celebration of Creativity: Christopher Bakken's AUTH Poetry Workshop" | Dr. Christopher Bakken (Professor, Allegheny College, US; Fulbright Scholar) |
| DRAMA AND SUSPENSE WITH POETIC LINE | December 10th, 2021 | "Creating Drama and Suspense with the Poetic Line" | Dr. Christopher Bakken (Professor, Allegheny College, US; Fulbright Scholar) |
| WRITING ABOUT BORDERS | June 4th, 2021 | "Gloria Anzaldua’s Poetics: An Example of Chicana/o Studies" | Dr. Aleksandra Nikcevic-Batricevic (Professor, University of Montenegro) |
| WRITING & MEMORY | May 21st, 2021 | "Damnatio Memoriae and Black Lives Matter" | Megan Coates (Stockton University/Princeton University, U.S.) |
| AUGMENTED REALITY - THE BOOK & CREATIVITY | March 31st, 2021 | "A Workshop on the AR Book: Layering the Virtual and the Physical" | Dr. Lizzy Pournara (Postdoctoral Researcher, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) |
| NARRATIVE MEDICINE & CREATIVE WRITING | December 4th, 2020 | "Narrative Medicine: The Power of Creative Writing in a Time of Crisis" | Vinia Dakari (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Lynne Bamat Mijangos (Columbia University), and Catherine Rogers (Columbia University). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP ON MEMOIR WRITING | December 18th, 2019 | "Constructing Native Places: Post-Colonial Environmental Indigenity and Native American Storytelling in Memoir" | Shilo Virginia Previti as part of the student exchange program between Stockton University, U.S., and AUTh. |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | November 27th, 2019 | "Creative Writing Workshop on Collaborative Digital Archives" | Dr. Manuel Portela (Professor, University of Coimbra, Portugal). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP – CRAFTING DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES | November 8th, 2019 | "Creating Poetic Masks, Crafting Dramatic Monologues" | Dr. Yannis Kanarakis (Department of English Literature and Culture, School of English, AUTh). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP – DIGITAL ARCHIVES | May 8th, 2019 | "Creating Digital Archives and Collections With Omeka" | Dr. Deborah Gussman (Professor of American Literature (School of Arts and Humanities, Stockton University, U.S.). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP - TRANSLATION | March 27th, 2019 | "Literary Voices Echoed in Translation: When the Curtain Falls and the Lights Come On" | Dr. Vasiliki Misiou (Department of Translation and Intercultural Studies, School of English, AUTh). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP – SUBTITLED TRANSLATIONS AND MEANINGS | December 13th, 2018 | “Reading Between the Lines, Seeing Beyond the Images: Multimodal Construal, Translation and Reception of Implicit Meaning in Subtitled Film" | Dr. Louisa Desilla (Assistant Professor, Department of Translation and Intercultural Studies, School of English, AUTh). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | November 14th, 2018 | "Alternative Languages, Alternative Selves: Exploring Language as Creative Material" | Steven Tagle (Writer; Fulbright alumni). |
| CREATIVE PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP | November 1st, 2018 | "Playground of your Creativity: Dreamwork for Dramatic Writing" | David Crespy (Professor; University of Missouri, U.S.; Fulbright Scholar). |
| CREATIVE PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP | October 17th, 2018 | "Point, Kick, and Arc! Writing the Ten-Minute Play" | David Crespy (Professor; University of Missouri, U.S.; Fulbright Scholar). |
| ENVIRONMENT-THEMED CREATIVE WORKSHOP | May 25th, 2018 | "Perspectives on Nature: Exploring Landscape Through American Literature and Creative Writing" | Dr. Kristin J. Jacobson (Fulbright Scholar Greece, Professor of American Literature, Stockton University, U.S.). |
| SUBTITLING WORKSHOP | May 4th, 2018 | "Subtitling (a) Culture: New Challenges in a Globalized Audiovisual Environment" | Dr. Katerina Gouleti (Special Teaching Fellow, Department of Translation and Intercultural Studies, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP – DYSTOPIA WRITING | March 16th, 2018 | "Dystopian (dis)order: Exploring Margaret Atwood's Writing Techniques" | Filio Chasioti (Ph.D. Candidate, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP | Feb. 23rd, 2018 | "Fantastical Worldbuilding: Creating Worlds in Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror" | Dimitra Nikolaidou and Vaya Pseftaki. |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP – INTERTEXTUALITY & POE | Dec. 1st, 2017 | "Exploring Edgar Allan Poe's Intertextuality" | Demetrios Tsokanos (Ph.D. Candidate in University of Almeria, Spain). |
| ECOPOETICS CREATIVE WORKSHOP | Nov. 22nd, 2017 | "Echoes of Nature in Ecopoetics" | Dr. Sophia Emmanouilidou (Special Teaching Fellow, School of English, AUTh.). |
| POETRY AND TRANSLATION WORKSHOP | May 12th, 2017 | "Translating a Crisis/ Translating in a Crisis" | Dr. David Roessel (Professor) and Ciarra Barrick (Stockton University, U.S.). |
| SOCIAL THEATER CREATIVE WORKSHOP | Ápr. 28th, 2017 | "Revisioning Social Theater through Camp Spectacles" | Katerina Delikonstantinidou and Konstantinos Chatzipapatheodoridis (Ph.D. Candidates, Department of American Literature, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). |
| CREATIVE WRITING - MYTHMAKING WORKSHOP | Mar. 17th, 2017 | "Resurrecting Gods and Monsters: Modern Mythmaking" | Steven Tagle (2016-2017 Creative Writing Fulbright to Greece; UMass Amherst MFA Program, U.S.). |
| ANIMATED NARRATIVES WORKSHOP | Oct. 21st, 2016 | "The Heider-Simmel Animation in Contemporary Cinematic Narratives: A Workshop on Story and Form" | Dr. Georgios Dimitriadis (School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP OF DIGITAL PRACTICE | Jan. 22nd, 2016 | "Language and the Interface: Workshop in Digital Literature" | Dr. Manuel Portela (Associate Professor, University of Coimbra, Portugal). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP OF ARCHITEXTURAL PRACTICE | Nov. 13th, 2015 | "Exploring Collaborative Creation in Surreal Expressions: Interplay or Artwork?" | Dr. Thaleia Girgoriadou (School of Artchitecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | Oct. 16th, 2015 | "Cognitive Poetics in Service of Poetry Writing" | Alexandra Christakidou (Ph.D. Candidate; School of English, Department of Applied and Theoretical Linguistics). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | May 29th, 2015 | "Writing Pedagogy Workshop: Writer Identity and Writing Fantasies" | Dr. Zoe Charalambous (Institute of Education, UCL). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | May 15th, 2015 | "'Re-create life lived': Working with Sylvia Plath’s Words" | Dr. Elena Ciobanu (Erasmus + Faculty Mobility Program). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | May 8th, 2015 | "Stakes and Choices in Fiction Writing" | Natalie Bakopoulos (Fulbright Scholar, Fiction Writing). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | April 24th, 2015 | "Get Real about Being Surreal: Workshop on Sur/Real Art” | Dr. Despina-Alexandra Constantinidou ((School of English Ph.D. graduate). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP | March 10th, 2015 and March 12th, 2015 | "Memory Mapping Thessaloniki" | Catherine Rogers (playwright; Fulbright Specialist). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP OF DIGITAL PRACTICE | May 30th, 2014 | " Machines made of words: Language and literature in a post-print context" | Theodoros Chiotis (Ph.D. Candidate, Oxford University, UK). |
| CREATIVE THEATER WORKSHOP | May 9th, 2014 | "The Red Square: Simple Composition for the Elegant Soul" | Sondra Blanchard (Fulbright Fellow). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | March 28th, 2014 | "The Importance of Character Building: Create your own Superhero" | Katherine Marazi (Ph.D. Candidate, School of English). |
| CREATIVE THEATER WORKSHOP | March 7th, 2014 | "Collaborative Playwriting" | Sondra Blanchard (Fulbright Fellow). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP – SCRIPT WRITING | Nov. 29th, 2013 | "Scriptwriting Images: Dare to Visualize your Thoughts" | Sotiris Babajimopoulos (Ph.D. Candidate, School of English). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | Oct. 18th, 2013 | "Is there a Doctor in the House: When Creative Writing Meets Medicine" | Catherine Rogers (playwright; Fulbright Specialist). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP-PART II | May 28th, 2013 | “Writing as Process” | Don Schofield (poet). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP | May 21st, 2013 | "Paying Attention to Poems" | Tryfon Tolides (poet). |
| CREATIVE THEATER WORKSHOP | April 9th, 2013 | "Is language different from music? A workshop on Samuel Beckett’s plays through rhythm" | Dr. Maria Ristani (School of English Ph.D. graduate). |
| CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP – PART I | April 2nd, 2013 | "Writing as Process." | Don Schofield (poet and translator). |
| CREATIVE WORKSHOP OF DIGITAL PRACTICE | March 12th, 2013 | "Digital Storytelling: Practical Approaches to Hypertext Fiction Reading." | Vassilis Delioglanis (School of English M.A. graduate). |
| CREATIVE APPROACH TO RESEARCH | Dec. 13th, 2012 | "Consuming Neo-Victorian Fiction and Film." | Elisavet Ioannidou (School of English M.A. graduate). |
| CREATIVE WRITING SEMINAR | Nov. 20th, 2012 | "Draft after Draft: The Poem" | Tino Villanueva (Boston University, U.S.). |
