Welcome
THE KALYMNOS WORKSHOP JOURNAL
You will notice a new item in the menu of this website — The Kalymnos Workshop Journal. Click on this for daily updates for what the participants are doing and writing during the week-long Workshop on Charmian Clift Kalymnos. Already, the first postings are up!
UPCOMING 2026: CHARMIAN CLIFT’S KALYMNOS 5 to 13 May
If you missed out on this year’s Workshop for Readers and Writers on Kalymnos, don’t worry! Limelight Arts Travel and Nadia Wheatley are offering it again next year.
Expressions of Interest can be registered on the Limelight website, which has the draft itinerary https://www.limelight-arts-travel.com.au/charmian-clifts-kalymnos-may-2026
Join with Clift’s biographer Nadia Wheatley and a small group of other Clifties to explore the Greek island of Kalymnos, where Clift found her unique solo voice while writing Mermaid Singing. Visit the places that inspired her and write your own travel journal in an atmosphere of collaboration and mutual support.
TRANSLATING CHARMIAN CLIFT
In this article on Substack, Charmian Clift’s translators discuss the joys and challenges of translating Mermaid Singing and Peel me a Lotus into Greek and Spanish.
https://nadiawheatley.substack.com/p/the-joys-and-challenges-of-literary
BREAKING NEWS: HONOUR’S MIMIC
In mid 2025, NewSouth will be publishing Clift’s novel Honour’s Mimic. Set on the sponge-diving island of Kalymnos, this genre-breaking romance has been out of print since 1990. The timing coincides with the Workshop for Charmian Clift Readers and Writers, to be held on the island in May.
MEDIA
On 1 June 2024 there was a terrific piece in the SMH about the documentary Life Burns High, including an interview with film-maker Rachel Lane.
A recent radio interview celebrating Clift and her essay collection, Sneaky Little Revolutions:
And here is a wonderful review of the Spanish translation of Peel me a Lotus. The Clifties are growing in number, across the world! (If you don’t read Spanish, pop it into Google translate.)
Send an email if you would like to add something to the Readers Comments’ page. This might be your response as a reader, either to Clift’s life and work in general, or to a particular book, essay or idea. (200 words maximum.)
Photo above: Clift at work on the terrace of the Hydra house, c. 1956.
Photo below: Cover, Charmian Clift, The End of the Morning (NewSouth 2024)
Photo Centre: UNVEILING the Blue Plaque at Kiama Library. LEFT The Minister for the Illawarra. CENTRE Charmian’s niece, Diana Bradshaw. RIGHT Sue Eggins, President Kiama and DIstrict Historical Society.
Photo below: With members of the Kalymnian Association, Sydney, September 2024.
Bottom: Charmian Clift at Coolah NSW, 1965.
