“My book is a call for help for people who have been abused. Because violence is not only physical violence, but also verbal and even mental violence, which is difficult to heal!”
Mr. Dukas, you have written a successful course in the music scene with five personal albums. But then you started writing. Are you no longer worried about the Music field?
“The music industry, especially the discography industry, has changed and changed so much that no one can start, let alone maintain a reputation, in a toxic environment if you don’t pay, you won’t exist! I find it tragic, to say the least.”
In addition to the children’s books, translations and plays you have written, you recently presented your first novel, “Karaiba adla Korama”, which was published by “Papazisi Publications”. What does it tell us?
“It seems that he contrasts man with “God”, morals with what is legitimate within him. Objectively, this is a cry for help for people who are being abused. Because violence is not only physical violence, but also verbal and even mental violence, which is difficult to heal!”
Did you actually discover a mystery about the Orthodox Church and want to develop it by incorporating it into your story, or does the plot revolve around it?
“While reading, I came across an event that happened in the Gorama region of Cappadocia. Then, seeing the pictures in the cave paintings and reading more and more, I completed my first idea, and also my first book, “Korama with a Strange Name”. is to discover the denominator, which seems willing to kill not only their own lives, but also to take a mentally ill prisoner. to reveal the truth and togetherness and an ancient and dark secret hidden in the bosom of the Christian Church for centuries.
How did you do the case? From the beginning or gradually?
“The beginning was my need to give a voice to abused and marginalized people in a society that is still divided and judgmental. Then I started building my abducted heroes by combining them with the story of Korama.”
Does this include your personal experiences, thoughts, repressions?
“I wouldn’t say disgusting at all, because that word makes me feel negative! I took elements of myself, but also from a lot of people I know, so I could give the reader a hero they could relate to.”
It is a multi-faceted and complex story that contains many shocking and inhuman events that take place in the real life of our time. How do you handle so many characters and sketch them as we see them? Are you really influenced by them when you write?
“The characters in the book are alive, they talk to me, and I listen to them, because I have to understand what they want before I can fill them with words and then with literary flowers! Even the villain I write, I have to understand his motivation first to make him complete as a character, so that the reader can identify with him, so that there is hope for redemption.”
You said that because the story revolves around so many characters, it requires the reader’s full attention to read.
“When you read the book, you see that it is like living in our pluralistic society, unequal and often cruel! That’s why I draw attention to the discrimination I found in him with what I described harshly, and also in us.”
Will we recognize ourselves in any of the characters?
“For those who know me personally, yes! For the rest of the readers, this will be a pleasant surprise! Especially in the last pages of Korama”.
At the end of the book, you say that “law and morality will clash in us”… Have you clashed with these two concepts?
“Honestly, more than I expected. Conflict is now a daily occurrence, especially as a writer.”
As weak beings, we want to believe in God, but Science and Technology separate us. Your book also touches on this issue. do you believe
“God gave us intelligence to do many things! I mean to rustle, but also to explore!’
What meaning do you want to convey with your story?
“Our actions define us, not our faith in God, but how we are all equal and worthy of His love.” Color, religion and origin without exception.
Is writing an excuse?
“First I completed as a person, then as an artist.
Is it easy or difficult to write consciously, with practice?
“Each writer has his own way! For me personally, it is a rite of passage that mysteriously emerges from within me and leads me into the unknown. What I want to write is this unknown.”
But what does… What does Giorgos value, what does he hate, what does he fear?
“Lies and rudeness! The rest I can control, like death, which I’ve stopped fearing for years.”
What can we expect from you soon? New book, disc, series?
“A new book is being prepared, but it will take some time. “Korama” is really going to be a mini-series.
Summary
George Doukas was born in Larnaca in August 1974 during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. At the age of 18, he moved to Athens and engaged in professional singing, completing 5 personal albums in connection with his music studies. He started writing prose and stories from a young age, then he was engaged in theater. His first musical theater work “Triplopenies – Prova Fonikou” was presented in 2015.
This was followed in 2016 by the children’s play “The Adventures of Mini-Mius”. Since then, he has translated internationally recognized children’s plays into Greek. In 2020, in cooperation with the Ministries of Education and Environment, he wrote the book “Recycling Adventure” for children on the topic of Circular Economy in primary schools. He also wrote some episodes in TV series.