The Last Butterfly

13th Attic School of Ancient Drama

The Last Butterfly

Thursday, October 30^th 2025 | 20:00

In collaboration with Shaeirat and Baumstrasse

A poetry night dedicated to the poets of Gaza.

The evening unfolds as a poetic performance in two parts, lasting approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. In the first part, Greek artists Martha Frintzila, Sophia Hills, and Eleni Kokkidou will read selected works by Palestinian poets Naema Hassan, Yousef al Qedra, Khaled Jumaa and others, translated into Greek, offering a collective act of remembrance and solidarity. Greek poet Dino Siotis will read his own poems written for Gaza.

In the second part, Gazan poet Hend Joudeh will perform her own work in Arabic, with Greek translations read by writer and translator Natassa Sideri, creating a powerful bilingual encounter.

More than a reading, this is a poetic act of witness, an offering of voice, breath, and presence. The Last Butterfly invites us to listen deeply and hold space for Gaza through the enduring power of poetry, across borders, languages, and grief.

Hend Joudeh is a Palestinian poet and writer, born in 1983 in the al-Bureij refugee camp. After a lifetime of living and working in Gaza, she is currently a refugee in Cairo with her family.

She is the author of two poetry collections, Always Someone Leaves (2013) and No Sugar in Town (2017), and her work has been widely published online. Her most famous poem, What Does It Mean to Be a Poet in Times of War?, written during the 2023 war on Gaza, has become iconic. Her French-language anthology, Gaza ô ma joie, was published by Héros Limite (Geneva) in September 2025.

Born in Tinos, Greece in 1944, Dino Siotis has published thirty five books of fiction and poetry in Greek, English, French and Spanish. His poems have been translated into many languages, including Arabic and Chinese.

He is the founder of Wire Press and Society of (de)kata and the publisher and editor of sixteen political and/or literary magazines in San Francisco, Ontario, New York, Boston, and Athens. He regularly contributes articles on communication, the arts and book reviews in newspapers and magazines.

He studied Law at Athens University and Creative Writing at San Francisco State University, following which he entered the diplomatic corps for the Hellenic Republic and served abroad a number of years in Canada and the U.S. as director of Press and Communication.

In 2007 he received the Greek State Poetry Award for his poetry collection "Autobiography of a Target". In 2011 he started Poets Circle in Athens and in 2025 Mediterranean Poets Network.

He is director of Tinos International Literary Festival and spends his time between Athens and Tinos, Greece.

Natassa Sideri was born in Athens in 1981. She is a playwright, writer and translator. Her plays and short stories have been published and produced internationally, winning multiple distinctions and awards.

Among others, she was the winner of the MYTHOS?! international playwrighting contest and in 2018 she was named Best Debut in Fiction at the yearly awards organized by the prestigious literary magazine O Anagnostis.

As a translator, she has translated, edited or adapted for the theatre texts by Κeiran Goddard, Henri Lefebvre, Miranda July, Caroline de Mulder, Volker Ludwig, Matei Visniec, Carol Sansour, Isabella Hamad, Ferdia Lennon, etc.

Martha Frintzila is a Greek singer, theatre director, actress, and educator. As a lead singer with different bands, she has performed at festivals and concerts across Europe, the USA, China, the Middle East, and Cuba. Frintzila is also the founder of the Attiko School of Ancient Greek Drama and Baumstrasse Theatre in Athens, where she teaches acting and voice. Her theatrical work includes directing productions such as Prometheus Bound at the Athens Epidaurus Festival and Cain - a mystery at the National Observatory of Athens. She has served as a Professor in Residence at Princeton University and has taught acting at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece