Susan Papas
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Filmmaker, producer, literary translator and more, I've worn many hats in my life and treasured all the opportunities that have come my way, or that I myself have created. Perhaps none is more fulfilling than my latest role as indie author: writing and self-publishing my first novel, The Gold Dark Summer.
I grew up in the countryside of southern England, free to roam the fields and woods and travel far afield on my bicycle. I attended village schools that boasted one or at most two teachers, and won a scholarship to boarding school, my experiences there being the inspiration for The Gold Dark Summer. I now live on the island of Cyprus, and for a dozen years or more have been translating novels, poetry, short stories and essays, from Greek to English. I have worked with the PEN Society of Cyprus, individual authors, and was honoured to collaborate with the European Union on "The Day the River Froze" by Greek Cypriot author, Stavros Christodoulou, winner of the EU Prize for Literature in 2020. I’m currently working on my second novel while continuing my work as a literary translator. 
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The Gold Dark Summer
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Young Adult, Coming of Age
Sadie is 14 years old, with a heart full of dreams. It is 1959, and the shadow of World War II still lingers over England. Sadie dreams that the father she has never known will return, even though he was killed in the war. She dreams that Danny, a senior at the nearby boys' school, whom she glimpses only from afar, will one day notice her, but he has eyes only for her best friend, Lucy. And she dreams that she and Lucy will be selected to sing in the prestigious Music Festival, and bring glory to the school. She defies the rules of her strict English boarding school with minor acts of rebellion: reading to room-mates after lights out, organising midnight feasts, accepting dangerous dares. But in her fourteenth summer she will risk disgrace, loss of friends, exclusion from the coveted Music Festival, even expulsion from school, to go in search of the love she dreams of. When her world falls apart, she must find the strength and maturity to ride out the storm and emerge not only older and wiser, but victorious. 
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