Gonda Van Steen

Gonda Van Steen earned a PhD degree in Classics and Hellenic Studies from Princeton University and holds the position of Koraes Chair in the Centre for Hellenic Studies and Department of Classics at King’s College London. Her first book, "Venom in Verse: Aristophanes in Modern Greece" (PUP, 2000) was awarded the John D. Criticos Prize from the London Hellenic Society. In her 2010 book, "Liberating Hellenism from the Ottoman Empire", revolutionary uses of Aeschylus’ Persians and the Venus de Milo take center stage. Her 2011 book, entitled "Theatre of the Condemned: Classical Tragedy on Greek Prison Islands" (OUP), discusses the ancient tragedies that were produced by the political prisoners of the Greek Civil War. Her 2015 book, "Stage of Emergency: Theater and Public Performance under the Greek Military Dictatorship of 1967-1974" (OUP), analyzes theater life, performance and censorship under the Greek junta. Her current book project, "Adoption, Memory and Cold War Greece", is taking the reader into the uncharted terrain of Greek adoption stories that become paradigmatic of Cold War history and politics.