Island almanac

Karen Yelena Olsen is an American poet living in a small sheepherding village in Crete. In this memoir she celebrates the kaleidoscopic beauty of the Cretan landscape. She also bears witness to its centuries-old traditions—harvesting the olives, shearing the sheep, weaving the wool, observing the many religious holidays—emblems of a way of life fast disappearing. Karen traces these traditions to their roots in Homeric epic and Minoan civilization, linking them as well to today’s political and social realities. The men and women of the village come alive in her warm and perceptive portraits. Karen’s poems offer a lyric perspective on the people and events she describes, while dozens of vivid illustrations embellish her text.