Welcome to my author’s corner. What are you currently working on?
Presently, I’m working on a few projects. I’m writing a series with a cast of characters in the erotic romance genre. I’m also working on a collaborative poetry book with two poet friends. I have a manuscript that I’ve been working on for years on and off. I always have something in the making. The mind never stops.
Will you have a new book coming out soon?
In the Spring of 2022, Free Line Press will be publishing my new collection of poems, for all the lonely hearts being pulled out of the ground.
It is a poetry book that is more experimental than my other four poetry books. This will be the fifth one that I wrote a few summers ago after reading Bukowski’s poetry books. I wanted to experience more in-the-moment poems about everyday subject matters.
I’m excited to publish it with a small publishing company from France...explain company and philosophy. I have self-published all my poetry books, so this is the first one that will be published with a company.
The last poetry book that I published, Love & Metaxa, was accepted three times by various publishing companies, but due to the pandemic and some personal issues the companies were having at the time, I had to do it on my own. Along with the editorial assistance of Alexandra Meehan, it has received excellent reviews.
I’m excited about this poetry book because it is a different style and yet you can see that my voice is consistent.
When did you start writing?
Christina’s journals.
Writing has always been my go-to. It all started with journal writing in high school, which turned into writing poems. During one particular English exam, the teacher asked us to read a poem and analyze it. I must have finished in record time and felt so mindful writing down my interpretation. After class, everyone was saying, “What was that poem about, man?” I listened to everyone complain, and that's when I realized that I was different; that's when I realized I understood this poetic language better than my friends and classmates. Suddenly, my friends were making requests for poems, and I wrote poems every day during class. Can you write a poem about my boyfriend? I just broke up with my boyfriend? Can you write me a poem I can give him? Friends and acquaintances would give me scenarios, and I would recreate their love into a heartbreaking poem. If I would look back at those poems now, I may have a few somewhere in an old shoebox in the garage, and I would probably gag at how infantile and cliché they were, but at the same time, they were the poems that started this love affair with words so I can’t be too tough on myself. What kind of weird gift was this? Did I think to myself? This knack for writing poems for strangers. I wrote so many poems and then typed them out. During typing class, I recopied most of Jim Morrison’s poems for the fun of it. I suppose he was the first poet I adored. Listening to those albums, his poetry readings, and reading his lyrics changed my life. They made me see the world differently. It was a portal into the sky that a select few could grasp. Once I started college and discovered the vast aisles a library contained, I spent hours recopying poems onto lined paper. I sat on the floor under the Poetry section and knew the books off by heart. I recopied Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, Shelley, Virginia Woolf, on and on…
Then one day, nineteen-year-old me walked into a second-hand book store across from my university. I picked up The Selected Poems of Anne Sexton for a couple of bucks and fell in love with her writing style. Her poetry awakened something in me. Her poetry book is always close by me at any moment.
I started a blog in my thirties and started to share my poems online, which also helped me get out of my shell and share my work and ideas.
Who is your biggest influence today?
Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and T.S. Eliot are poets that keep influencing me. Margaret Atwood is a goddess of writing. She keeps astounding me with her novels and poetry books. Atwood is the G.O.A.T. She can weave stories like a magician. She can write poems that clench your guts. Hers is the type of writing that keeps me grounded and makes me strive to achieve better daily.
Where did you grow up and how did that influence your writing/art?
I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. My parents were hard-working Greek immigrants who came to Canada, struggled with the two languages and built a life here. I grew up in the city and moved to the suburbs when I was in elementary school. Living in the suburbs kept me focused on school and reading, but I have always been a free spirit and wild at heart. The city was full of life; we stayed up late; played hide-and-seek in the Montreal alleys with cousins and neighbors, and created fond memories that make me nostalgic. Moving to the suburbs opened up a whole new world for me; friends from other cultures and the abundance of sky and land to ride my bike and play outdoors without fear. I loved reading outdoors under the trees in my backyard for hours. I learned to enjoy the moments and breathe. It was a twenty-minute drive to Montreal; this made life always exciting. I studied English Literature at Concordia University, worked as a barmaid in Old Montreal, and taught adults part-time until I finished my degree. I learned so much about humanity by being a bartender at my boyfriend's pub and living the nightlife. We had live bands nightly at the pub, talked to all kinds of people from all walks of life, stayed up late until the sun came up, and lived every minute. My environment, my city, my culture have always played a role in my writing. My novel's locations are in Montreal. My poetry book, especially my latest, Love & Metaxa, includes poems about the city, life, family, love, death, being Greek, being raised in a Greek household and relationships with loved ones. Also, what it means to be a mother, daughter, wife, lover, and granddaughter coming from an immigrant family.
Do soulmates exist?
The Wanting is an intimate account of Serena and Teddy’s sexual awakening. They undeniably have a magnetic pull and connection that leads them to each other. It is an erotic tale of relationships and their internal struggles as told through dialogue with themselves.
One night, Serena and Teddy are out at a bar and they both meet and fall for another person. Serena meets Ben, an attractive eBook writer and Teddy meets Melina, a sexually charged school teacher. The story that unfurls, is a roller coaster ride of two erotic journeys. Questions arise...Are two people meant to be together? What is serendipity? Do soulmates exist?
The Wanting is a book about the confusion between sex and love. It is a modern romance into the mysterious world of sex and the power it holds over our minds.
Find The Wanting online: Amazon & Barnes and Noble & Booktopia
Have any travels away from home influenced your stories?
My family trips to Greece evoke memories that sometimes turn into poetry. In my novels, I like to research cities. In my novel Crush, I wanted it to be in St-Tropez. I had never travelled there, but I have researched it intensely. Half of the novel's location was in Montreal the other half was in St-Tropez. The familiarity of my city makes it easy for me to write. Travelling to different countries opens up my creativity and the artist in me.
When did you know you wanted to be an artist/poet?
I have been writing since high school, but when I was thirty-nine years old, I published my first novel. It's a long story how that happened, but essentially, I met a spiritual counsellor who did a tarot reading for me and told me that she saw me signing and writing books. Up until then, it all felt as if I would keep my writing in my drawers, but after that pivotal moment, I felt as if I had more stories inside me. I partnered with her to start chronicling her stories and wrote three books about her life through a first-person narrative. I wrote those three books over a couple of years, but writing them made me realize that I can be a writer and publish my work.
Another pivotal moment was in 2015 when my niece took my phone and opened up an Instagram account to share my poetry. At the time, I did not realize that her action would lead me to make connections and publish four poetry books.
How do you relax while not writing?
If only I knew how to relax; drinking coffee in the morning during the summer when I am off of work and catching up on all my writing projects is my way of relaxing. Oh, wait, did you say relax? I like to meditate, take long walks with my dog, read books, listen to music, and enjoy moments with family and friends. The only time I can truly relax is when I am on a beach, preferably in Greece, and reading books with no concept of time. I love spending time with my family and reconnecting. My recent hobby is painting. I am painting acrylic on canvas using various techniques/ My writing room has become a painting studio in one corner.
Who has helped you most with writing?
Alexandra Meehan has helped me the most with my writing. She is an excellent editor. Alexandra Meehan edited my poetry book, Love & Metaxa, but beyond her editing expertise, she and I are poetic soul mates. We can discuss and analyze poems and poetry for hours. She reads my poems and can dissect them or tell me how to improve them. Some of my poems are so long, once I get into my stream of consciousness, and Alexandra can chop up poems and tell me that I have two poems written instead of one. When Alexandra Meehan began editing my poems a few years ago, I finally realized how much I needed to improve my writing and become a better poet. She has made me see that poetry is all about showing and not telling. I owe her a debt of gratitude for her editing skills and her friendship.
About Christina…
Christina Strigas is an author and poet, raised by Greek immigrants, and has written four poetry books. Her popular poetry book, LOVE & VODKA, has been featured by CBC Books in, “Your Ultimate Canadian Poetry List: 68 Poetry Collections Recommended by you.”Her fourth poetry book, LOVE & METAXA, has just been released to rave reviews from Pank Magazine.
Strigas’s poems have appeared in Montreal Writes, Feminine Collective; Neon Mariposa Magazine; Pink Plastic House Journal; BlazeVOX; Thimble Lit Magazine; Twist in Time Literary Magazine; The Temz Review, and Coffin Bell Journal, to name a few. Her poem, “Dead Wife” was nominated for best of the net 2020.
She has also self-published a self-help/poetry book based on her popular quotes that went viral on Twitter. She writes romantic love poetry in a stream of consciousness narrative prose. Her influences are Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Mary Oliver, the Romantics, and Pablo Neruda.
Christina Strigas will be releasing The Wanting, an erotic romance novel with The Wild Rose Press, on Sept. 27, 2021. She will also be rereleasing Crush, a paranormal romance novel on October 13, 2021, with The Wild Rose Press.