Matia, Emily Tsokos Purtill’s debut novel, explores the love of Greek culture, family and traditions. In this interview, Tsokos Purtill discusses her writing journey and shares a detailed insight into the novel's inspiration with UWA publishing intern Samantha Hearn.
Emily Tsokos Purtill is a Western Australian writer of Greek heritage. Emily lives in Perth/Boorloo on the lands of the Whadjuk Nyoongar people. She has also lived in the UK, Vancouver, Paris and New York. Her creative non-fiction, short fiction, flash fiction and poetry has been awarded and published in anthologies and journals in Australia and the United States. Her short fiction can be found in Westerly and Griffith Review. After being awarded for her short fiction as a young writer, including winning the Tim Winton Award for Outstanding Achievement and twice winning the Katharine Susannah Prichard Award for Young Writers, Emily pursued a career in law and has worked as a lawyer in Perth and in Paris. Emily returned to writing when she lived in New York in 2013-2014. Matia is Emily’s debut novel.
What was the inspiration behind Matia?
I have always been fascinated with how different my life is from those who came before me, and what changes for women over different generations with education and choices. I’m also interested in the future too, and what happens after my time is over here.
Both sides of my family emigrated to Australia from different parts of Greece. I’ve also always known that my grandparents and great-grandparents had not had the privileged life that I was leading and there had been major sacrifices along the way. Another element to writing across generations is that I’m the eldest child of young parents and grandparents (everyone in my family had children in their early twenties), so I was lucky to spend a lot of time with the older generations, although some passed away very young.
My mother’s family came from Kastellorizo in the 1920’s and her father came in the 1950’s from Rhodes. I went to many Greek weddings as a child, and I think about them all the time. There were very set traditions for the way that things were done. I always thought that there was a lot to explore with this, and have incorporated some of those traditions into Matia.
My father’s family is from a different part of Greece – Evia and we still have family there. I spent a lot of time with my paternal grandparents. They lived around the corner from us and were a big part of our daily lives. I am still struggling to deal with the fact that they’re not in this world with us anymore. Sadly, my grandfather passed away last year, and my grandmother a few years before. They were both in their nineties.
I also wanted to write a story that wasn’t all set in Australia. I have travelled and lived away many times, and they have all been extremely formative experiences for me, especially as a child. I think there is a lot of resistance to Australian writers writing fiction set elsewhere. I don’t know why it’s such a problem.
I think Australian women are limited in their representation in fiction, particularly Greek-Australian women as more than stereotypes. I spent a lot of time with older Greek-Australian women as a child, and I always thought they were the most fascinating and interesting people I’d ever met. I’d also invent stories about what happened to all the men, as in my mother’s family at that time most of them had passed away by the time I came along.
These are a few of the considerations I had in mind when I wrote Matia, but really I wanted to write a story that looked at these things differently. Another writer might have focused on the narrative of the rags to riches tale of a growing immigrant business and it is also that story (but that’s happening in the background). The real story is the women doing the invisible work and their own lives.
When did you begin writing?
I’ve always considered myself a writer, and I was encouraged as a child and while at school and university. However, I couldn’t work out how to be a writer professionally and I didn’t see myself becoming a journalist, so I became a lawyer. It was a long time ago now, but I always thought I would write in my spare time, which I did, although I didn't have all that much spare time in my choice of career.
At various times in my life I’ve stopped and started on various manuscripts or shorter pieces. When I’ve travelled or lived overseas, I’ve always made notes and those details often make it into my writing.
I began writing Matia when I lived in NYC during 2013-2014. I was working on a different manuscript at the time, but as I pushed my stroller around the city, I mapped out the story for Matia in my head. And then I tried to write it down, which took a lot longer, as I went back to work and being a lawyer takes up a lot of time even when you ‘only’ work three days a week. I wrote and edited a lot of it in the carpark at my children’s school, waiting to pick them up on my days off.
I always saw the story as specific moments or individual scenes, and in the end they seemed to connect themselves. So, I guess it took about eight years to get it to a point where it was accepted for publication.
What type of research was involved in writing Matia? Did your Greek heritage aid the story writing?
I have travelled to Greece a few times in my life, both with my family as a child and later, as an adult, and we still have our family in Evia. I have also had my entire life with my grandparents, until very recently. I used all of this to write it, although the book is fiction.
In terms of some of the traditions in Matia, these were followed by the Kastellorizan side of my family. I stuck to my memories as much as I could, especially the bridal preparations for the Greek-Australian weddings I went to as a child in the ‘80s and ‘90s. These are things that have stayed with me my whole life, and I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on them.
I also read a lot of non-fiction, about Greece and the Greek-Australian experience. These include books about village life in Greece by anthropologist Juliet du Boulay. I also read books by Effie Alexakis and Leornard Kaniszewski about the Greek-Australian experience which included lots of beautiful photographs. Another book that really blew me away was Promised Brides by Panayota Nazou. I also read work about the ‘evil eye’ across cultures more generally.
But as well as the past which can be researched to a point, I spend time thinking about the future and that is more difficult to write, especially when it’s about Australia. What happens if settling in Australia is a detour to somewhere else? Do people remain Australian, and what about their children? I’m not even sure what it means to be Australian and not sure I ever have, and so from the periphery of all these questions, I wrote the story.
Matia is written from various characters’ point of view. How did this influence your writing of the novel?
It would be a very different book if it was written from one character’s perspective. I wanted it to feel expansive and travel across time, so I purposefully wrote it this way.
Museums and art have a strong presence within Matia. Do you have any background in art?
No, not at all. At various points in my life I have thought about studying art history, but there’s always been something else going on. If I was going to do it, I probably would have done it by now. Instead, when I’ve travelled and lived in different cities I’ve spent a lot of time at museums and galleries. I read exhibition catalogues cover to cover. I also dream a lot about paintings and sculptures, particularly of the Ancient Greek variety.
I saw Donna Tartt speak at the 92Y in NYC when she launched The Goldfinch. That was a pivotal moment for me, as that book starts at the Met, and I’d been spending so much time there and I thought – yes, I can write part of my book at the Met too. And so, I did.
Your writing has been published before, but how does it feel to have a debut novel on the way?
It’s a very exciting milestone to have a novel being published. I think I’ve got used to the idea that it’s going to happen now. And I’m so pleased it’s with UWAP.
Are you working on anything currently? If so, what can you share?
I always have quite a few projects going on at once, so yes – always!
I actually just received a grant from the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries to develop a new manuscript, Elia (olive tree) so I’m busy working on that at the moment. It’s wonderful to be recognised in this way and to be able to focus on a manuscript for an extended period of time.
I also write and curate content on a theme which I send out in a newsletter every month to members of my literary subscription. I really enjoy doing it, so I’m always thinking about what would be interesting to my readers and especially which books to recommend because I am a very critical reader. And, reading the books. I’m always reading.
Matia is available to purchase from UWA Publishing and is out in October 2024.
Samantha Hearn is a Curtin University student who is in her final semester of postgraduate studies, completing an MA of Arts, majoring in Professional Writing and Publishing. She has a love for reading, writing and literature (specifically in the fiction genres) and has a passion to work within the publishing industry.