When I started dealing with the emigrants of Distomo in America, I did not imagine the extent of the matter, nor

that the life and history of each, would be a puzzle that had to be fit piece by piece. The effort to describe, to paint,

to summaries a person’s life holds many surprises, while there is always the danger of misconceptions of the

incidents that have taken place.

For anyone who loves people’s life stories it’s a nice wander, like becoming young Columbus who slowly

discovers not the great continent, but the inner world of a man, once rich, sometimes poorer, something like a

musical piece with small or large changes. But there is another main reason that made me to start

this unbelievable journey-quest. In my book «To warm the stones on the slopes of Distomo» presents the lives of

the people of Distomo in the 20th century, with the habits, their traditions, their professional employment etc. So the

life of immigrants in the same period of time system is an integral part of this story, it completes the above and is at

the same time self-completed.

Kate Manolopoulou was born in Athens, however, Distomo of Boeotia, is her mother’s, Angeliki Kaili, native landplace of origin.

After her high school studies at Saint Joseph French School, she worked at the National Bank of Greece. It is here where she meets with the man of her life,

Takis Manolopoulos with whom she got married. She loved literature and poetry more than the numbers she had to face during her work. She began to express herself through the writing of poetry. One could say that her small poetry collections αre excerpts from her diary and parallel thoughts and concerns about her beloved country.

Later, the tragic fate of Distomo, on June 10, 1944, pushed her to deal with it and wrιte 3 books.

Due to her involvement with the massacre of Distomo, and the recording of folklore elements of the place, she has been distinguished and honored repeatedly by the Municipality of Distomo.

She is a member of the Society of Hellenic Literators as well as of the Panhellenic Society of Literary Writers from which she has been rightfully awarded for her poetry.

Many of her prose and poems have been published in newspapers as well as literary magazines.

Εrgography

Poetry

«Painting verses», poetry, Athens 1981.

«Only a league above the bottom,» poetry, Athens 1990.

«How to split the water», poetry, Athens 2000.

«Absence Diary», poetry, 1st edition, Athens 2008 and 2nd edition, Athens 2011, (published by Vergina).

«Τhe daedalus of associations», poetry, Athens 2017, (published by Vergina).

Prose

«Memories and testimonies, fifty years old or timeless, Distomo 1944-1994» (published by the Municipality of Distomo) 1994.

«Let’s heat the stones on the slopes of Distomo», folklore, sponsored by the

Municipality of DiStomo, Athens 2004, (published by Vergina).

– ««Atheristos Iounis (Unreaped June) – Distomo 1944», it concerns the massacre of Distomo. 1st edition, Athens 2013, 2nd edition, Athens 2014, (published by Vergina).

«Taming Circe – Distomites in America», Athens 2016, (published by Vergina). «Atheristos Iounis – Distomo 1944» (Juni ohne Ernte – Distomo 1944), after- phrase in German, Dr. Michaela Prinzinger, publications Griechenland Zeitung,

Athens 2016.

«Taming Circe – Distomites in America»,

enriched, translated into English, by Dr.

Nick Panagiotaras, published by Vergina,

Athens 2022).