Kallia Papadaki
Born in 1978, Kallia Papadaki was bound for a career as an economist after her studies at Bard College and Brandeis University in the United States, but instead, her love for cinema, literature and her students at the Stavrakos Film School won her over. At the age of 32, she received the New Writers Award from the Greek literary journal Diavazo for her short story collection The Back-Lot Sound. Her 2015 novel Dendrites won the EU Prize for Literature and was published in English in 2024 by World Editions. The book tells the tumultuous story of a Greek diaspora community in Camden, USA, and has been translated in 12 languages. Papadaki is also a screenwriter and script editor. She teaches screenwriting at the Stavrakos Film School and participates as a script consultant in various script labs and mentorship programs, such as Pop Up Film Residency, the Mediterranean Film Institute workshops, and Microfilm, a short film funding program from the Greek State Broadcaster (ERT). Her screenplay for the film Wishbone, directed by Penny Panagiotopoulou, was nominated for the Best Screenplay Iris Award by the Hellenic Film Academy. The film premiered at the World Competition section of the 36th Galway Fleadh and won the Audience Award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
