Annetta Benzar

Annetta Benzar is the Media Officer and Research Assistant at NeuroLandscape. She holds an MA in English from King's College London, where she explored the intersections of identity, migration, and interethnic marriage in her thesis titled "A Marriage of Convenience: The Cypriot Context."

Annetta’s writing focuses on themes such as life writing, inclusivity, migration, and the human experience as captured through narration.  In 2020, Annetta published I am Cyprus: 25 Stories of the Migrant and Refugee Experience in Cyprus, a non-fiction collection that explores the complexities of migration, displacement, and belonging on the island. The book sheds light on the often-silenced voices of individuals caught in the margins—migrants, refugees, bi-cultural, multi-cultural, LGBTQ+ people, and others. These stories, gathered between 2017 and 2018, capture the raw human experiences of those navigating borders, both literal and metaphorical. The collection is a deeply reflective work on identity and community, as summed up in the following lines:

“Memory has become a battlefield. We no longer fight with words but with stories… Yet, these stories are soon lost, forgotten, burned to the ground and buried in the soil. Left in suitcases at the bottom of a lake. There is rarely a memorial for them.”

Her work, praised for its depth and emotional resonance, has been featured in both national and international literary circles, including the Institute for World Literature at Harvard University's 2024 Summer Program.

Annetta was also the editor of Larnaka: The Anthology (2021), which brings together artistic voices from the Larnaca community to explore themes of belonging, identity, and the connection between people and place.

In addition to her work as an author, Annetta is an active participant in literary events and festivals, and is passionate about exploring how narratives shape our understanding of identity, migration, and the ways in which individuals relate to their environments.