A new kind of poetry is flourishing in Greece’s streets, bars and cafes, says the Guardian in an article about a new wave in Greek poetry.

“Not since the dictatorship that shook the country in the 1970s has there been such an abundance being written. A new anthology in English translation, Austerity Measures, compiles some of the most revolutionary.”

However, even though many of the poems refer to the social and economic crisis, editor Karen Van Dyck stresses that this is not a homogenous phenomenon.

“A lot of these poets don’t even know the others exist. It’s a very disperse scene.” And they are not really a generation either, since they are multicultural, multiethnic, multigenerational. Some of them aren’t even Greek, just writing in it.

Eftychia Panayiotou, Thomas Tsalapatis, Danae Sioziou, Jazra Khaleed, Elena Penga, Yiannis Doukas, Glykeria Basdeki, Yannis Stiggas, Yiannis Efthymiades are representing a new wave of Greek poetry and the Guardian talked to them about what drives them to create, and what hopes and fears they have for their country.