Friday 29 December 2023 13:00
In December, the SNFCC Teenagers’ Reading Club continues its meetings, facilitated by comic book artist and translator Thanasis Petrou as facilitator. Books of his include: Giannoulis Halepas. The Myth of Modern Greek Sculpture (on a script by Dimitris Vanellis, Patakis Publishers, 2019); Gra-Grou (on a script by Tassos Zafiriadis and Yannis Palavos, Ikaros Publishers); At the Battle of Marathon (Patakis Publishers, 2015).
The book Can a random, unexpected fact change the course of History? In 1916, while World War I was raging, King George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, donated two newborn monkeys to his cousins, King Constantine of Greece and Queen Sophia, for the birth of their third daughter. The two monkeys were picked up and cared for by Sturm, the German superintendent of the royal estate in Tatoi. In 1917, following pressures by the English and the French, King Constantine was forced to abandon his throne and Greece. His second-born son, young Alexander, who probably preferred to lead a quiet life, flirting, playing with his German shepherd and racing with his car, was then forced to take over the country’s throne. One of the monkeys was constantly running about the estate; and this was when a random event happened that changed the course of History. With a dense narrative and a subtle sense of humor, we see Eleftherios Venizelos, Kemal Ataturk, Basil Sakharov, French and English diplomats, politicians and military, watch all major events and backstage workings, from the National Schism to historical triumph and the Catastrophe of Asia Minor, with the little monkey being a constant silent witness to it all. An anti-war novel based on real-life events of the time, but maintaining a witty, sparkling style.
The author Filippos Mandilaras was born in 1965 in Athens. He has been involved with books for children, teens and young adults since 1997, either as a writer or as a translator, editor, and reader. He has written many books for younger and older children, one fantasy novel (“Victory, or What it Looks Like and What It Is”), a collection of short stories for young adults (“Bananafish”), and four novels for teenagers. Three of them (“Somewhere to Belong”, “Hyenas”, “Life like an Elevator”) constitute the “Trilogy of the Street” (2010–2012), while the fourth one (“Wonderful World”, 2016) is a polyphonic literary record of modern-day teenagers’ life. For “Life like an Elevator” he has been awarded the Greek National Literature Award for Teens-Young Adult Book, and for “Wonderful World” the prize of the magazine “O Anagnostis”.
A few words about the Reading Club facilitator Thanasis Petrou was born in 1971 in Thessaloniki. He studied French Literature in Thessaloniki and Paris, and holds a postgraduate degree in Sociolinguistics. In 2002, he won the first prize in the comic book competition (“New Talents” category) organized by “9” magazine of Eleftherotypia newspaper in collaboration with the AKTO School of Art & Design. From 2002 to 2005, he studied on a scholarship at the Sketch, Comic Book & Cartoon department of AKTO. He has worked as a French teacher, a translator, an illustrator, a musician. From 2005 to 2011, he worked with "9" magazine of Eleftherotypia newspaper. Since 2012, he has been teaching at AKTO. From 2008 to 2022, 16 comic books of his have been published by various publishers, both on scripts of his own and on scripts by other authors (Dimitris Vanellis, Katerina Servi, Pavlos Methenitis, Tassos Zafiriadis, Yannis Palavos et al.). His latest book is: “1923: Hostile Homeland” (Ikaros Books, 2022).
Friday 29/12 13.00-14.30
ΖΟΟΜ
For children aged 12 to 16 Free admission with online pre-registration
Preregistration starts on 01/12 at 12.00
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).
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.
