Dimitris Lyacos

Dimitris Lyacos is the author of the Poena Damni trilogy, one of the best-selling and most highly regarded works of contemporary European literature in translation. Renowned for combining, in a genre-defying form, themes from literary tradition with elements from ritual, religion, philosophy and anthropology, Poena Damni reexamines grand narratives in the context of some of the enduring motifs of the Western Canon, most notably violence, mental illness, the scapegoat and the return of the dead. Developed as a work in progress over the course of three decades, the trilogy has been translated in more than 20 languages and has given rise to musical, visual and theatre projects. Chapters D, G, L and V from the trilogy's prequel Until the Victim Becomes our Own have appeared in Image, MAYDAY, River Styx and Chicago Review. His latest interviews are out in The Common and the Michigan Quarterly Review.