Reading Club: The Conspiracy of Angels - Εικόνα

In December, the SNFCC Reading Club continues its meetings, facilitated by writer Dimosthenis Papamarkos.

Dimosthenis Papamarkos was born in 1983 in Malesina of Locris. He studied Ancient Greek History in Athens and Oxford. He has published novels, short stories and graphic novels. In 2014, his short story collection Ghiak, which has been translated into Russian and German, earned him the Petros Haris Foundation / Academy of Athens award, as well as the award for best Short Story/Novella of the magazine Anagnostis. Papamarkos has also written theater and screenplays, and has translated classical Greek dramas for productions of the National Theater of Greece and the Athens and Epidaurus Festival. While an Onassis Artistic Research Fellow, he wrote the theatrical play Ston Koraka. He works as a content creator for projects of the Faliro House film productions company.

On Monday, December 19, Reading Club facilitator Dimosthenis Papamarkos will welcome participants at the Book Castle, to exchange views based on the book of the month.

On Wednesday, December  21, the Reading Club’s meeting will take place online via Zoom. 

December: Aivali, Soloúp 

In Aivali, the story of the Asia Minor Catastrophe is revisited in the context of the negotiation of its memory by the Greeks, both individually and collectively. However, Soloύp dares to also talk about the “other side,” that of the descendants of Turkish refugees, and to also listen to their thoughts and feelings. Connecting, like pieces of the same jigsaw puzzle, texts by Photis Kontoglou, Elias Venezis, the latter’s sister Agapi Molyviati-Venezi, and Cretan Turk Ahmet Yorulmaz (all of whom were born in Ayvalik), he composes the human drama of uprooting from both sides. Their four stories about the past are framed through the viewpoint of a modern-day visitor of Ayvalik, who keeps on visiting the town, always wondering “if, and what, history actually teaches us.” And yet, all the main characters of the graphic novel are either refugees themselves or descendants of refugees, each carrying their trauma of uprooting in their own personal way, reminding us that it remains an open wound, albeit a transmuted one. The book has caused a sensation in Ayvalik since it first came out in 2014, being embraced by a large readership, well beyond that of the comic book genre. It is deemed a reference work of the ninth art in Greece, thanks to both its unique artistic and commercial success and the fact that it has enriched the medium’s language and has decisively expanded its subject and appeal.  

 

Bio

Soloύp (pen name of Antonis Nikolopoulos) is a political cartoonist and a comic book creator. He was born in Athens in 1966, and in the late 1990s his name became linked with the Greek comic book scene, which was just starting to take shape at the time. Works of his have appeared on the pages of Greece’s leading comics magazines, such as the historic Babel. At the same time, as a political cartoonist, he collaborated with leading newspapers, such as To Vima and To Pontiki. In 2014, after having published fourteen collections of political cartoons and comics, he released his first graphic novel, Aivali (Kedros Publishers) — a milestone in the history of Greek comic books, since it managed to appeal to readers well beyond the niche audience of the genre. In 2018, he released the graphic novel The Collector: Six short stories about a bad wolf (Ikaros Publishing), while in 2021 he released the book 21 – The Battle of the Square (Ikaros Publishing), with the support of the HFRI (Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation) and in collaboration with the University of the Aegean. Thanks to the successful circulation of his books beyond Greece, in languages such as French, English, Spanish and Turkish, as well as to exhibitions themed after his graphic novels in museums such as the Benaki Museum and the National Historical Museum, Soloύp has not only been recognized as one of the leading world-known Greek comic book creators, but has also been instrumental in establishing the genre in our country.
 

Monday 19/12 | 18.30-20.30
NLG BOOK CASTLE

For adults | Up to 30 participants
Free admission online preregistration required 

 

Wednesday 21/12 | 18.30-20.30
ZOOM

For adults | Up to 50 participants
Free admission online preregistration required 

 

Pre-registration starts on 01/12, at 12.00

Facilitator: Dimosthenis Papamarkos 

To participate in the Reading Club, it is necessary for those who hold a position to have read the book of the month. (It is also useful to have it with them).

Soloúp ’s Aivali is available in Greek from Kedros Publications.

As part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's collaboration with the National Library of Greece, the book for the Reading Club has been chosen by NLG staff members.

See also

Sunday 23/10, 17:00

Reading Club: Children’s Book (7-9 years old) | The Invisible Tonino

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Saturday 29/10, 17:30

Reading Club: Children’s Book (ages 10–12) | Wonder

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Sunday 30/10, 13:00

Reading Club: Teenage Literature | Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin (authors), Giovanni Rigano (illustrator), Illegal

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