In Spring 2024, I traveled to Lesvos, Greece (Sappho's birth island), Athens, Greece, Florence, Italy, and Rome, Italy. While there, I wrote the initial draft of poetry collection through archival research at local museums and galleries. During the visit, I learned that Lesvos lacks relevant site-specific cultural artifacts to educate visitors on the poet, despite her history as the first recorded poet in Western European and American cultures. My larger research project works on a book of poems that interact with Sappho’s translated fragments and contemporary artists. This project is for an ancillary research project to the monograph, which establishes partnerships with Sappho scholars and poet-artists to create a site-specific walking tour of Sappho’s history and work on the island of Lesvos in Greece. The project requires balancing arts-based research methods with archival and cultural heritage preservation methods. Our work together in Summer 2025 will focus on researching and reaching out to potential collaborators at the University of the Aegean and in Athens, Greece. We will also identify and apply for SEED grant funds to develop the project through a network of funding sources.

Contact CR Grimmer for more information!