Elena Penga

Elena Penga is one of Greece’s most dynamic and most produced playwrights. She also writes fiction and directs for the stage. She received the Greek Academy of Letters award for her book Tight Belts and Other Skin. Her work is in Best European Fiction 2017. She has published three books of short fiction, one novel, and nine books of plays. Her work has been translated and published in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, and Bengali. She teaches at the Hellenic Open University.

Elena will work on her fifth book of prose, an epistolary novella, composed of fictional letters written by various characters to a fictional recipient. Each chapter will introduce a different character. A letter will be juxtaposed with a scene from the life of the sender or the recipient. The physicality that is missing from the written conversations will be explored in the scenes contrasting the letters. The book will unfold as drama, focusing on the significance of place, connection, and intimacy.