Monday 29 January 2024 18:30
In January, 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.
Red April, Santiago Roncagliolo
The 2000 presidential elections are coming up in Peru, and in the city of Ayacucho crowds of tourists have begun to flock to participate in the celebrations of Holy Week. However, this city of the Andes, a symbol of the country’s peace after the government forces prevailed against the guerrillas of the “Shining Path,” will soon enter a new cycle of violence. Mutilated bodies of “informants” start to surface around the city, calling into question the authorities’ narrative about their utter dominance over the rebels. The murders will be investigated by Félix Chacaltana Saldívar, a public prosecutor of arid formality, who will soon find out that, in this particular case, he is in way over his head. Red April is a political and existential thriller which, under the cloak of a classic police novel, traces the modern history of Peru, the story of a violent revolution and its equally violent repression, a democracy transformed into a de facto dictatorship to confront its enemies, a state that turns criminal in its effort to fight crime. With its release, Red April established Santiago Roncagliolo as one of the most important voices of contemporary Latin American literature and Lima (according to the New York Times) as one of the continent’s “brightest literary scenes.”
The author
Santiago Roncagliolo (Santiago Rafael Roncagliolo Lohman) is a Peruvian writer, screenwriter, translator, and journalist. He was born in 1975 in Lima, Peru, but spent part of his childhood in Mexico, where his family was exiled. Aspiring to become a writer since he was very young, in 2000 he decided to move to Madrid to pursue his dream. He obtained a residence permit working as a house cleaner, and at the same time he began his professional occupation writing as a ghostwriter. His first successful work is Red April. This novel has been translated into twenty languages and earned its author one of the most prestigious prizes in Spanish-language literature, the Alfaguara Novel Prize, making him the youngest winner in the history of the institution. In his writings, Roncagliolo often deals with the turbulent political history of 20th century Latin America and the way it has influenced the character of Latin American societies, as well as the interpersonal relations of people within them. A literary voice that stands out for both his daring to transcend the boundaries between literary genres and his brave negotiation of issues that are still open wounds in the public and private life of the citizens of Latin American countries, Santiago Roncagliolo has rightfully earned a prominent place among the great writers of this literary tradition, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Monday, Jan. 29 18.30–20.30 Book Castle NLG For adults | Up to 30 participants Free admission; online preregistration required
Preregistration starts on Jan. 3, 12:00 noon.
Facilitator: Dimosthenis Papamarkos The book Red April is available in Greek from Kastaniotis Editions. Anyone reserving a seat at the Book Club is required to have read the book of the month. As part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center’s collaboration with the National Library of Greece (NLG), the book of the month has been chosen by NLG staff.
