Cyprus has been a destination for civilisations and individual travellers since ancient times. Empires have held possession over this sun-bathed island in the Mediterranean, yet Cyprus has managed to attract artists and writers from around the world as well as being able to produce its own.
Cyprus offers a mix of literary works from the foreigners' infatuation with the island to its own local voices. Lawrence Durrell wrote about his time in Cyprus in Bitter Lemons, which won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1957. The English writer Sadie Jones set her Small Wars in Cyprus in 1957 and numerous European historians have focussed on this island and its place in history.
Cypriot Nora Nadjarian set her collection of short stories Ledra Street in Nicosia, which is a brilliant example of the quality amongst the native writers. Poet and writer Costas Montis is another writer who has ties with Nicosia and who was arguably one of Cyprus' best writers in the last century.
Famagusta-born Panicos Khrysantou is a documentary-maker who in 2006 had his fiction-debut with Akamas, he won the Abdi İpekçi Peace Award in 1997 for his film Our Wall.
Cyprus has a strong musical tradition that is nowadays best summed up through artists such as Paphiti Savvas and the Turkish-Cypriot Yeksad.




25˚C