Author Kathryn Gauci Reveals ‘Odyssey’ that Changed Her Life

Last month, USA Today Bestselling Author Kathryn Gauci released her 15^th publication and archetypal memoir. An Aegean Odyssey: A Memoir follows her instrumentality to Greece successful 2005. She’d lived determination successful the 1970s and visited occasionally. But this travel was astir much than returning to her favourite places. It was astir chasing a imagination to go a writer.

Author Kathryn Gauci

Born successful Leicestershire, UK, Gauci enjoyed a three-decades-long vocation arsenic a carpet and textile designer, a vocation that allowed her to unrecorded and enactment successful places similar Vienna and Athens. From 1972-1978, she worked astatine Anatolia Carpets, which astatine the clip was the largest carpet shaper successful Greece.

“It was wonderful,” Gauci said. “But each I knew astir Greece to that constituent was astir Ancient Greece. I thought I’d enactment for a year, but I loved it, and the owners were pleased with my enactment and asked maine to enactment on.”

Living successful Greece

Anatolia Carpets was located successful Neo Ionia/Kalogreza, successful suburban Athens, a vicinity populated by Asia Minor refugees. “Through them I learned astir the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the Burning of Smyrna. I became fascinated with modern Greek history.”

Gauci lived successful Kypseli, adjacent the Athens Polytechnic. “I witnessed the events starring up to the nighttime the tanks rolled in. Several students were killed. I watched it each unfold. And I retrieve erstwhile the Junta fell, determination was truthful overmuch optimism.” Walking successful celebrated footsteps, she became fascinated with World War II history. “I lived a fewer streets from wherever the Resistance person Lela Karagianni operated her network. I had to larn arsenic overmuch arsenic I could.” These experiences stayed with her, and later, shaped the stories she would tell.

She and her erstwhile hubby ended up relocating to New Zealand. But Greece ne'er near her thoughts—or her heart. She returned for consequent visits. And spent the adjacent 20+ years moving arsenic a carpet designer, and for 15 years owned and operated her ain textile workplace successful Melbourne.

USA Today Bestselling Author Kathryn Gauci. IMAGE: EBONY PUBLISHING

Time for a change

After astir 30 years successful the carpet and textile industry, things were changing. Many companies closed oregon moved offshore. And her passionateness for this enactment waned. “I sought different emotion that would springiness maine that surge of adrenaline again. Then I thought astir becoming a writer. I could beryllium creative, travel, survey past and civilization – it checked each the boxes. But what would I do? How would I start? Greece called to me. I’d felt truthful astatine location there. I didn’t cognize what to bash but knew Greece would amusement maine the way.”

Gauci acceptable retired solo connected her idiosyncratic odyssey and stayed 2 months. “I began searching for the Old-World Greece that I knew erstwhile I lived there. It’s rapidly disappearing these days. And I had hoped to pat into the tone of Nikos Kazantzakis, Lord Byron, Patrick Leigh Fermor, and Henry Miller, among others.”

She visited aged friends and the places she had lived and worked. Then acceptable retired for the islands, including Chios, Crete, Karpathos, Lesbos, and Rhodes.

Becoming an author

Back astatine home, she typed her copious notes but didn’t consciousness the clip was right. “I didn’t cognize why, though I aboriginal realized that I was looking for past and characters that ignited my emotion for humanities fiction.” Less than 2 years later, she began penning her archetypal novel, The Embroiderer (Ebony Publishing, 2014). The publication weaves unneurotic her experiences arsenic a carpet and textile designer, surviving successful Greece, traveling, and more.

Today she is the award-winning, bestselling writer of 15 books. While she’s champion known for her humanities fabrication acceptable successful Greece, Austria, Italy, and Turkey, An Aegean Odyssey is her archetypal memoir.

AN AEGEAN ODYSSEY is Kathryn Gauci’s 15th book–and 1st memoir

Kathryn Gauci’s ‘Odyssey’ revealed

Now with acquisition arsenic an author, and immoderate years of distance, the timing felt close to revisit the fateful travel that ignited her penning career. “I could present look astatine that travel much objectively and professionally, and done caller eyes.” Gauci is gladsome she waited.

“When I made that journey, though my main purpose was to go a writer, it was to find the aged beingness I’d experienced successful the 1970s. Memoirs connection an intimate transportation with existent quality experiences and I was fortunate capable to interact with a procreation of radical who, successful galore cases, are nary longer with us, peculiarly the Asia Minor refugees. These radical helped signifier modern Greece and yet galore of their stories are unrecorded. They were storytellers to me. Each had a unsocial story, and each beingness tin thatch america immoderate lessons. I ne'er forgot their stories, and I didn’t privation those stories to die.”

Preparing Odyssey for its publishing voyage made her further recognize that the timing was right. “Over the past fewer years determination has been a large accent connected women uncovering a caller meaning successful life. Many present question unsocial oregon are nary longer successful relationships, and exploring thing antithetic tin revitalize you. It’s exciting. I made the leap into the chartless astatine a clip erstwhile galore deliberation astir retirement–that connection isn’t successful my vocabulary. I was revitalized.” She recovered it cathartic to constitute astir her past life. It besides gave her the accidental to dilatory down and bespeak connected her ain past and future.

More stories

Revisiting her beingness changing odyssey has further inspired her. “It’s made maine privation to spell backmost and research much of Greece’s past and traditions, but successful different regions. I already cognize wherever I’ll spell and wherever I’ll focus. And 1 happening is for certain; I’ll stock my experiences with you again.”

Gauci is presently moving connected her adjacent humanities novel, acceptable successful WWII Malta. Then much stories acceptable successful Greece.

An Aegean Odyssey: A Memoir is disposable now. For much accusation astir Kathryn Gauci and her work, sojourn https://www.kathryngauci.com/.

Read more:

Author Shelley Dark Chased Down a Greek Pirate successful a Life-changing Adventure

Sally Jane Smith’s New Travel Memoir Takes Us Back to Greece

Maria A. Karamitsos

Maria A. Karamitsos is simply a journalist, author, and poet. She's the laminitis & erstwhile publisher/editor of WindyCity Greek mag and erstwhile subordinate exertion & elder writer for The Greek Star newspaper. Maria besides contributes to NEO mag and TripFiction. Her enactment has been published successful The Magic of Us-A Moms Who Write Poetry Anthology, The Pen Poetry Magazine, Voices of Hellenism Literary Journal, Highland Park Poetry, GreekCircle magazine, The National Herald, GreekReporter, Harlots Sauce Radio, Women.Who.Write, KPHTH magazine, XPAT Athens, and more. Maria has contributed to 2 books: Greektown Chicago: Its History, Its Recipes and The Chicago Area Ethnic Handbook. She's presently moving connected a novel. www.mariakaramitsos.com