A Conversation with Author Sally Jane Smith - Repacking For Greece

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Australian author Sally Jane Smith is one of nine
writers recognized in the Greek-Australian Cultural League of Melbourne’s 2024 Book Awards. Her debut
travel memoir, Unpacking for Greece, was awarded First Prize in the ‘Prose in English’ category.
When asked how she felt on receiving the news, Smith said, “It was staggering. I wrote the Packing for
Greece series for tourists, never expecting that the philoxenia I experienced as a traveler in Greece would
resurface in this wonderful support from Greeks around the world. To see my name listed with those of so
many accomplished Greek-Australian writers is an indescribable honor.”
When Smith first set out for Greece with her mother’s 1978 travel diary in her pocket, she was searching
for the wanderlust she’d lost in a devastating overseas road accident. As she ventured into the heart of the
Mediterranean – wandering volatile landscapes, exploring historical sites, pairing books with places and
savoring the tastes of Greece – she found it was possible for a clumsy, out-of-shape woman on a budget to
experience a life-changing journey. This is the story that became Unpacking for Greece, published in 2023
and named a ‘Reading Greece Book of the Month’ by Greek government website Greek News Agenda.
Smith said that connecting with Greek readers has become the most rewarding aspect of her writing.
Highlights include online book clubs and literary get-togethers with the Hellenic American Women’s Council
in Chicago, the Hellenic Cultural Society of South Florida, and the Greek Elder Care Network in New York
City. Smith also headlined an ‘In Conversation with the Author’ event with Lonely Planet Greece author Paul
Hellander in Adelaide, Australia, hosted by Festival Hellenika.
“When I visited Canada recently and stumbled across the Greek International Film Festival Tour in
Vancouver, I was deeply moved by the welcome I received. Then in October, the Hellenic Professional
Women Inc. book club got together in a Manhattan bar to discuss Unpacking for Greece. I never forget what
a privilege it is to be included in events like these, and I love it when groups ask me to Zoom in to their
gatherings. As a non-Greek who owes a great deal to Greece – the country that gave me my kefi back and
turned me into a writer – I feel enormous gratitude.”
Smith’s second book is also garnering attention in literary circles. Repacking for Greece, published this year,
was shortlisted by Australia’s Society of Women Writers NSW for a non-fiction book award. Together, the
two-book series travels to sixteen unforgettable destinations across the Greek mainland and islands:
Athens, Delphi and Meteora on the Greek mainland; Monemvasia, Sparta, Nafplio, Mycenae, Epidavros
and Methana on the Peloponnese Peninsula; and the islands of Santorini, Rhodes, Hydra, Aegina, Poros,
Kefalonia and Corfu.