‘If that’s not him pushing me, then I don’t know what is’. New book brings to life one of Cyprus’ national treasures

By Christina Michailidis

Widely considered the national poet of Cyprus, Vasilis Michaelides is celebrated across the island. Streets, statues, and even university buildings bear his name, honouring a man whose verses captured the struggles, hopes and identity of a nation. For most, he remains a distant literary figure encountered in schoolbooks or commemorated on anniversaries but for author Lisa Shead he is not just a cultural icon but family.

In Beyond the Rhymes, Michaelides’ great-great-grand niece explores a lesser-known side of the poet in a novel that blends family memory, historical research and imagination. As a first-time author, UK-based Shead sets out to share a lesser-known side of her ancestor.

The idea for the book first came about in 2013 during a family holiday to Cyprus when Shead’s mother asked to visit one of Michaelides’ statues. What began as a casual family outing sparked a series of questions, that grew into a decade-long pursuit. Shead’s curiosity, initially about a name she barely knew, soon turned into years of research, trips to libraries, digging through archives and conversations with relatives, leading to a years-long writing journey.

But telling Michaelides’ story came with a sense of responsibility. “I’ve seen other people writing about him, or musicians celebrating him through his poetry,” she said. “He’s honoured quite widely in Cyprus, but there’s nothing really in the UK. That made me want to find out more, and to make sure his name was known to the wider community.”

Beyond the Rhymes unfolds Michaelides’ life from childhood in Lefkonico, where he was born in 1853, through his years of artistic triumph and personal hardship, to his final struggles with poverty and addiction. He spent much of his life in Limassol, where he became closely tied to the city’s cultural and civic life.

Over his lifetime, Michaelides worked in a variety of roles; as a supervisor at a slaughterhouse, a pharmacy dispenser at the Limassol municipal hospital, a journalist at the Salphinx newspaper. He died in Limassol, and his funeral drew wide attention, with the mayor, officials, and schoolchildren reciting his poetry. He was buried in an unmarked grave.

“It felt like a calling,” Shead recalled. “There were times when I gave up and put the book down… there were other times when I had to keep pushing forward with it”.

While Michaelides is remembered today as a national treasure, Shead’s research uncovered human struggles behind the fame. “I was surprised to find that although he was so talented, he was still frowned upon because he came from a poor background,” she explained. Despite the respect his work commanded, Michaelides spent his final years struggling with alcoholism, poverty and ended up in a poorhouse. “It’s a shame,” Shead reflected. Someone with such brilliance to end up with so little.

Part biography, part creative storytelling, Beyond the Rhymes blends together multiple sources: memories passed down through family, Greek language texts, research by philologist Kyriakos Ioannou, a Cypriot TV series on Michaelides’ life. The result is a narrative that weaves together facts and fiction. “The timeline of where he was and what he did are factual… some parts I wasn’t sure so I also created a fictional account of what may have happened.”

The early chapters of the novel reconstruct Michaelides’ childhood in the village of Lefkonico. Through scenes of playfulness, pranks and hardship, readers meet not a mischievous boy who once placed a church statue in his father’s fields as a prank.

Juggling a full-time job and a family stretched the project across ten years. And it was a symbolic moment when the finished book was delivered to her home, coinciding with the anniversary of Michaelides’ death. “I thought well, if that’s not him pushing me, then I don’t know what is”.

For Shead, the act of writing became as immersive as the research itself. “I really, really enjoyed writing that book because I had to position myself in that scene, and going back to the 1800s was like, ‘Wow.’ What was around? What did the buildings look like?” she said. In Cyprus, she visited places tied to Michaelides’ life — the old town hall and the hospital where he worked — sitting in them to soak up the atmosphere and imagine what he saw.

Ultimately, Shead hopes her book will not only reach Cypriots but also English-speaking audiences worldwide. “I wanted to let everyone know about this person who was such a great influence in Cyprus,” she said. For diaspora communities especially, the book offers an accessible way to connect with the poet whose worked helped shape Cypriot identity.

At its heart, Beyond the Rhymes is about resilience and identity. Michaelides’ poetry gave voice to people, but his personal story – one marked with ambition, frustration and hardship, makes him relatable on a human level. Shead hopes that people can understand the struggles it took for Michaelides to become a national poet, a man that made mistakes but also one who left behind words that continue to inspire.

Beyond the Rhymes is available to buy from Amazon hardback or kindle