Diana Farr-Louis interviews Irena Karafilly, author of Arrested Song, set in Lesvos, on the life and times of the intrepid Calliope Adham, a feminist before her time who challenged village traditions and morality. Spanning the arc of Greece's troubled history from the German Occupation during WWII to the military dictatorship, Arrested S...
Read moreIn a society that celebrates beauty and perfection, Athens Insider recommends one of the books long-listed for the Runciman 2023 prize - Exposed by Caroline Vout. With chapters enticingly titled Bodybuilding and Sex and Society, classicist Caroline Vout topples our lofty notions of timeless beauty. She reaches beyond chiselled models of m...
Read moreFor nearly 40 years, the Runciman Award has been selecting the best book published during the year in English about Greece or a Greek subject. Covering every imaginable subject related to Greece from archaeology, history and myth to contemporary fiction, biography and travel writing, writer Sofka Zinovieff , who served as a judge on the ...
Read moreYiannis Karakasis’ new book explores one of Greece’s greater wine regions that produces intriguing whites with a mouth-watering acidity and mineral characteristics but also interesting reds born in the shadow of the volcano. Words by Angela Stamatiadou Wine writer, wine consultant and wine...
Read moreLike many of us this awful year, books have been the one constant solace for best-selling author Sofka Zinovieff. From pacy page-turners and feel-good reads, to moving memoirs and engrossing audiobooks to escape to while you cook, the Athens-based writer reveals the titles that have provided her with the best company and inspiration duri...
Read moreA fertile setting for writers in need of inspiration, Hydra's bohemian artistic community in the '60s provided fodder for the literary wizards who'd adopted the island as their muse. From George Johnston's barely-disguised biographies to Henry Miller's transcendental ramblings, Daniel Klein's epicurean musings and Charmian Clift's poetic...
Read moreThis is the fifth of my monthly chronicles on living through pandemic times, as told from the perspective of an American mystery writer who has called Greece home for 35 years. My wife and I had been in lockdown mode at our pastoral New Jersey farm since late February, but for August we experienced lockdown Manhattan-style. I’ve entrusted...
Read moreA place of discovery, escape and joy in leafy Pangrati. Walking into Lexikopoleio feels like coming home, because there’s an inexplicable warmth and safety it fosters. The musky smell of the books, the vibrant colours of the covers, the texture of the pages and spine - that in itself is a draw -but when it is peopled by staff who love lit...
Read moreA trip to Paris is stalled, and two wanderlusts Katerina and Yannis Chytiroglou convert their frustration into what they’d wanted to do in Paris – flâner, that untranslatable French word to just float about aimlessly absorbing the essence of the city into a travel boutique. Flâneur is all that and more. So much more than souvenirs, it is ...
Read moreWhether they’re opening their lives up for public inspection, or through the exploratory lens of therapy, you will enjoy these laugh-out-loud New York Times best-sellers, Anna Roins suggests. Becoming, by Michele Obama (Crown, 13 Nov 2018) It’s been said that ‘First ladies are, for the most part, second-hand celebrities...
Read moreThe Irish Embassy, in collaboration with Athens Insider, announces its first-ever Bloomsday creative writing competition in English, open to writers of all ages and nationalities. Bloomsday is marked around the world as a celebration of James Joyce, of course, but also as a celebration of Irish literature, modernist writing and creativity...
Read moreEditions Assouline's dreamy coffee table books often are as attractive as the destinations they cover. Its latest addition, the Athens Riviera coffee table book is a stunning photo album that retraces the history and spirit of Athens and its inhabitants. Discover a city that we have known for millennia, but whose contemporaneity is too of...
Read more
