Book Club: To Vouni

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.

To Vouni [The Mountain] by Louiza Papaloizou
Three people, three seasons, three “languages,” in orbit around a mountain in northern Cyprus, at the top of which there is an ancient palace. The stories of Xenis, Rodou and a Swedish archaeologist make up a modular narrative that starts from the 1970s and moves backwards through time to end up in the early 20th century. These stories, each told in a different way and in the unique style of its narrator, will be assembled into a mosaic that lucidly captures the memory of the place and its people. “To Vouni” by Louiza Papaloizou was widely recognized, very soon after its release, as a work that bears all the characteristics of a “Great Novel.” Its literary universe, constructed with rare fiction-writing skills, and its boldness in terms of both its themes and its use of language, rightfully rank it among the most important novels of modern Greek literature. 

The author
Louiza Papaloizou was born in Morphou, Cyprus, in 1972. She grew up in Limassol and studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Kent in Great Britain. She pursued postgraduate studies at the School of Business at Long Island University in New York, USA, while also studying Philosophy at the same university. Later, she attended English Literature classes at Columbia University, also in New York. In 2010, she published her first book, the short-story collection “Endangered Species,” which was awarded the Cypriot Public Literature Award for a Writer’s First Book, while in 2020, she published her novel “To Vouni”, which won the State Literature Award for Best Novel in both Grece and Cyprus.

Friday 29/12
18.30-20.30
Book Castle
For adults | Up to 30 participants
Free admission with online preregistration

Preregistration 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).

The book is available in Greek from Rodakio Publishing. 

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.