Ioanna Karystiani was born in Chania, Crete and now lives in Athens. She is the author of four novels and a book of short stories. She also wrote the screenplay for The Brides, directed by Pandelis Vulgaris and produced by Martin Scorsese, and for Estrella mi vida, directed by Costa Gavras. Read More She was awarded the Athens Academy prize for her first novel, Little England (2000), Michael Eleftheriou's English translation of which was published, as The Jasmine Isle, by Europa Editions in 2006.