Nikos Athanasou
Nikos Athanasou is an Australian short story writer and novelist and musculoskeletal pathologist and scientist. He was born in Perth and grew up in Sydney where he studied medicine. He moved to England and is currently Professor of Musculoskeletal Pathology at Oxford University and a Fellow of Wadham College.
Short story writer and novelist
His collection of twenty short stories Hybrids was published in 1995. These character-based short stories illustrated the sense of dislocation felt by Greek Australians and Greeks in Australia who see themselves as neither wholly Greek nor Australian but as a specific hybrid species formed by the influence of Greek and Australian cultures. Greek traditions sit uneasily in the new world society of Australia and contrarily, Australian attitudes clash with the social customs and outlook of Greeks. A second collection of twenty short stories, "Late Hybrids" was published in 2024; these stories highlighted not just cultural differences amongst later generation Greek-Australians, Greeks and Australians but also the distinctive psyche of Greek Australians when they encounter issues of life, love, death and duty to one’s pastHis first novel, The Greek Liar, was published in 2002. It examined Greek Australian society and examined the effect of Greek social structures and the pursuit of materialistic goals on the Greek-Australian quest for identity.
His second novel The Person of the Man, published in 2012, continues this existential theme, examining the feelings underlying an outwardly successful but secretly flawed marriage. The betrayal and tragedy that follow show that love cannot be analysed: it can only be understood.
His third novel Palindrome, published in 2016 is a cerebral crime novel set in the none-too-virtuous world of modern Oxford town and gown.