Koraly Dimitriadis is a writer, performer and bestselling, award-winning poet who creates film and theatre with her poetry. As the daughter of working-class migrants from postcolonial Cyprus, Koraly explores the human experience including political and feminist subjects such as single parenting, divorce, cultural/religious repression, violence against women and identity, with raw vulnerability, to shift narratives suppressing the marginalised. She is the author of the poetry books Love and Fk Poems (also translated into Greek), Shes Not Normal and Just Give Me The Pills, which won best book of Poetry (narrative) at American Book Fest 2024. Koraly is the author of the short story collection The Mother Must Die. Koraly has toured internationally with her poetry. Her recent poetry film, Yiayia mou (my grandmother), was a finalist for the Multicultural Film Festival and was streamed through SBS-on-demand. Koraly was the recipient of the UNESCO City of Literature residency. Her opinion articles and essays have been published widely across Australia with international publications in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Today show and Aljazeera.
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"I am so obsessed with Koraly. Her work is disarming, emotionally fearless and she sounds like nobody else alive. I will read her poetry forever." — Hera Lindsay Bird, best-selling poet, Pamper Me To Hell And Back
“The kind of honesty that can only come about after being wound-up, held writhing, repressed and silenced”
– Disclaimer Magazine (UK)
“She is merciless ... astounding.” – Stage Whispers
“She dishes the dirt, and she’s not afraid of anything. Her writing is coming for you, so you’d better just accept it…Energetic and irreverent, a must read.” – Overland Literary Journal
“A viciously fearless poet. For Koraly, a second-generation Cypriot-Australian woman, to openly navigate mental health, sexism, marriage, expectation and motherhood in such a vulnerable and clear way is a priceless moment for Australian writing.” – Luka Lesson, Australian poetry slam champion
“Just Give Me the Pills is an extraordinary composition – a defiant portrait of untamed domesticity…brutal honesty that is candid, unashamed and shockingly moving…a feminist anthem for social justice and self-love…a riveting and compulsive read.” – Bronwyn Lovell, award-winning poet
“Relentlessly bold, unapologetic, and humorous at all the right times. If one can detect a new wave of Australian poetry on the rise, it’s due in no small part to the pioneering efforts of Koraly Dimitriadis.” – Ruby Hamad, author, White Tears, Brown Scars
“In this long form narrative poem cycle, we see the emergence of a soul out of shame, bitterness and terror into defiance, resolution and strength. It’s absolutely authentic and absolutely dynamic.” – Christos Tsiolkas, award-winning author, The Slap
“In her candour and her urgency, Koraly captures the painful, the shameful, the messy in all of us. Koraly’s voice is unique, impassioned and grunts and shouts and howls and whispers and cajoles and offers on every page of this book. Just give me the pills is an odyssey. A female, Greek-Cypriot-Australian odyssey about being, becoming, about motherhood and marriage, about self-hatred and self-love. It is both intensely personal and broadly universal. It is a guide to self-realisation. A call to arms.” – Emilie Collyer, award-winning playwright and poet