Books & stories
Scroll down to find out about my published books and stories…
Twelve Golden Gifts
How a mother's wisdom and grace helped one family come to terms with her dementia.
(Spiri Tsintziras, ABC Books/HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2025)
Chrisoula had long been known for frying up honeyed Greek donuts anytime a guest arrived on her doorstep, offering a listening ear and sage advice, and sending her loved ones home with a plate of the golden orbs. She had cheeky blue eyes, a ready laugh and a generous heart - all of which had helped her deal with the many adversities she faced in her life.
When she was diagnosed with dementia, Chrisoula drew on her trademark humour and earthy wit to ask the only questions that mattered: What would be the best photo to have on her gravestone? Did the glittering gold dress she wanted to be buried in need to be ironed? And would it hurt to enter the wormhole of death?
As Chrisoula's dementia progressed, her adult children, Spiri and Dennis, grappled with guilt, sadness and fatigue as they fumbled their way from one bewildering symptom and care system to the next. But their mother had given them some very special gifts draw on at this time and which they could use long after she was gone.
In this compelling tribute to her mother, Spiri shares these gifts, along with some practical no-nonsense 'golden nuggets' on dealing with the challenges of diagnosis, living with dementia and coping with grief. Twelve Golden Gifts is a must-read for those looking after a declining loved one and for anyone who is moved by a beautiful - and funny - love story.
Order here or buy at your favourite bookshop.
My Ikaria
How the people from a small Mediterranean island inspired me to live a happier, healthier and longer life.
Spiri Tsintziras (Nero, April 2018)
Three years ago, Spiri Tsintziras found herself mentally, physically and spiritually depleted. She was stretched thin – raising kids, running a household and managing a business. She ate too much in order to keep going and then slumped in front of the telly at night, exhausted, asking herself ‘What is it all for?’
Spiri’s quest for a healthier, more nourishing life took her from her suburban home in Melbourne to her family’s homeland of Greece, and to the small Greek island of Ikaria. The people of Ikaria – part of the famous ‘Blue Zones’ – live happy, healthy and long lives. Inspired by their example, Spiri made some simple lifestyle changes and as a result lost weight, gained energy and deepened the connection to those closest to her. Best of all, she didn’t have to give up bread or wine!
Spiri’s heartwarming memoir, which includes delicious family recipes, will console and entertain all of us who are bogged down in the daily grind – encouraging us to put our health and happiness first.
Read an interview in Greek.
Afternoons in Ithaka
Spiri Tsintziras (ABC Books/HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2014)
I remember crusty just-baked bread, rubbed with juicy tomato flesh, swimming in a puddle of thick green olive oil. I am seven years old. I sit on a stool in my grandmother's house. It is the height of summer in a seaside village in the south of Greece. We little Aussies devour 'tomato sandwiches' as the family chats and laughs and swats flies ... From the first heady taste of tomatoes on home-baked bread in her mother's village in Petalidi, to sitting at a taverna some 30 years later in Ithaka with her young family, Spiri Tsintziras goes on a culinary, creative and spiritual journey that propels her back and forth between Europe and Australia. These evocative, funny and poignant stories explore how food and culture, language and music, and people and their stories help to create a sense of meaning and identity.
Read an article about the author in Neos Kosmos.
Parlour Games for Modern Families
Myfanwy Jones & Spiri Tsintziras (Scribe, 2009, 2020)
Book of the Year for Older Children,
Australian Book Industry Awards, 2010.
‘Who knew you could have this much fun without power cords? I love this book’ Catherine Deveny
Parlour Games for Modern Families sets out to revive the tradition of indoor family games: push aside the consoles, turn off the telly, and bring some mental stimulation, silliness and laughter, joy and connection back into your living room.
This book is bursting with games of logic and memory, wordplay, card games, role-play, and rough and tumble. Not a single game requires equipment that you won’t find in your average home: a pack of cards, a dictionary, an hourglass, dice, paper, and pen. You can play to your heart’s content without wasting a single natural resource — except perhaps the delicious jam tart, recipe found herein.
Buy the new edition (2011, $24.95)
Read about it in The Guardian newspaper and listen to a BBC Bookclub interview
Hear the authors interviewed on Life Matters, ABC Radio National
Children's books set in the Yarra Ranges area, Victoria
I have run workshops with children and community groups in Victoria's Yarra Ranges area to create story books for the local community. These include:
Riding home - The Yarra Ranges: What children like about where they live (and what they’d change) (Yarra Ranges Council - 2014)
Story by Spiri Tsintziras
This story is based on what 150 children from pre-schools and schools in Gladysdale, Healesville, Monbulk, Montrose, Mt Evelyn and Yarra Junction had to say about the area they live in.
The Season's In Our Town: A picture book by children from Millgrove, Wesburn and Surrounds (Yarra Ranges Council - 2013)
Story by Spiri Tsintziras
Kicking the footy, building a snowman, waiting for wombat to come out of her hole. These are some of the things that the children of Millgrove and Wesburn do during summer, autumn, winter and spring. Come and join them on thier exciting adventures.
Flying Home: A Mount Evelyn Story (Yarra Ranges Council - 2013)
Story by Spiri Tsintziras
Owler the Powerful Owl flies high above the Mount Evelyn township. Hop on his back and fly with him to find the silver bell, the flying fox and the flame tree. Look, feel and imagine your way through the Mount Evelyn township using this delightful picture book for the young, and the young at heart.
The Way Bunjil Flies: A new Dreaming about Badger Creek by Aunty Dot Peters (Mount Lilydale Secondary College, 2010)
Edited by Spiri Tsintziras
'Bunjil flies over. He sees Platypus and Fish fighting. He picks Platyus up in one claw, and Fish in the other, and drops them over Badger Creek...'This story recreates Aunty Dot's new Dreaming story about Bunjil the Eagle, with illustrations by Mount Lilydale Mercy College and Worawa Aboriginal College students.
Melbourne Coffee Review: A journey through Melbourne's top 100 coffee spots (2012 ed.)
Spiri Tsintziras (editor)
Ristretto in Rosanna? Syphon in Spotswood? Cold-filter in Collingwood?
This is the definitive guide to Melbourne's very best coffee houses.
Check out why in my blog entry about it.
Stories
Here are some of my published stories exploring food, family or connection in one way or another.
The gift from Mum's Cypriot watchmaker
SBS Voices, 27 June, 2022
Mum’s old cookbook is a time portal to summers past
SBS Voices, 7 December, 2021
Cooking for my mother now that she can no longer do it for herself
SBS Voices, 21 October, 2020
Going through my parent's possessions reminded me to the sacrifices they made
SBS Voices, 9 September, 2020
What I will remember when all this is over
Stories from Melbourne's Lockdown (anthology), 2020
Various guest blog posts from 2014-2015 - commissioned by the City of Maribyrnong
My neighbour's kitchen - Georgia Poulis
Feast, Issue 21, June 2013
Yiayia's tyganites patates
Kitchen Table Memoirs: Shared stories from Australian Writers (ed. Nick Richardson - ABC Books, 2013). Buy the book and support Foodbank.
The cemetery
avant new writing 2012 (Anthology of art, stories and poetry, Avant Press)
The red coat
avant new writing 2011 (Anthology of art, stories and poetry, Avant Press)
Shot glasses
Winner, East Gippsland Institute of TAFE Travel Writing Award, 2010
The perils of love at first byte
The Age, 18 September, 2010
A dispiriting sense of Christmas spirit spent
The Age, 24 December, 2008
There goes another fete fatality
The Age, 19 May, 2008
Goodbye barbie, hello pizza oven
The Age, 11 February, 2008
Elastagirl's little man dashes off to school
The Age, 30 January, 2008
The village well
The Age, 20 July 2007
Winter wonderland
The Age, 16 June, 2007
Gleaning a handful of memories
The Age, 13 March 2007
Hope sits at the table
The Age, 6 December 2006
Holidays and guesthouses with Spiri Tsintziras
Delighted to have been involved in this short film and creative learning activity for children with the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum. Visit the website for the full curriculum materials and to hear other arts talk about their process and craft.