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The exhibition ‘Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Gikas. Painting for Books’ will open on Wednesday 18 April at the Gikas Gallery of the Benaki Museum, as part of the events for ‘Athens – World Book Capital 2018’. ‘...Our gatherings at Ikaros were once interrupted, towards the end, our dear Alekos Patsifas, and then Katsimbalis would drag us off to a table at Zonar, where we would drink the nectar provided by Nikos Karidis’s bookshop,” writes N. Hatzikyriakos-Gikas in his piece on the 50th anniversary of Ikaros.The books illustrated by the great painter are now classics and reflect the relationships between the creators, as well as the atmosphere of that era. Nikos Hatzikyriakos – Gikas was systematically involved in illustrating texts from 1937 to 1992. He produced book covers, frontispieces and illustrations, mainly for works of poetry. Literary magazines such as ‘Nea Estia’, "Morphes" and "Aixoni" were published with works by Gikas as their cover or frontispiece, whilst he fully illustrated "The Poems of Cavafy", Kazantzakis’s "The Odyssey", Loggos’s *Daphne and Chloe*, and Nikos Gatsos’s *Amorgos*. Added to these are many individual covers and frontispieces for books and poetry collections, such as those by Odysseas Elytis, Lito Katakouzino, Margarita Lyberaki and others. The exhibition offers the public the opportunity to engage with both painting and literature, whilst also providing an opportunity to study older editions and discover the rich body of illustrative work by the great Greek painter, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika. Curated by: Ioanna Moraiti Exhibition design: Pavlos Thanopoulos Exhibition dates: 19/04/2018 – 21/07/2018 Gika Gallery | 3 Kriezotou Street, 106 71 Athens Further information at http://bit.ly/2pQnMRU

The Academy of the Greek Comics Awards has announced the nominations for this year’s awards, and Gra-Grou, the unique graphic novel by Tassos Zafeiradis, Yannis Palavos and Thanasis Petrou, with music by Michalis Siganidis, has secured five nominations: Best Comic, Best Script, Best Artwork, Best Cover and Best Art Direction! Gra-Grou unfolds an atmospheric story, where tradition intersects with the present and the realistic narrative is undermined by elements of the fantastical. Set against the backdrop of the eponymous restaurant, a landmark in Northern Greece for an entire era, the book crafts a charming gallery of characters just before each of them chooses the ‘big Yes or the big No’.The book is now in its second edition and continues to receive rave reviews from readers and critics alike.The award ceremony will take place on Friday 20 April at 9.00 pm in the Auditorium of the French Institute of Greece. Read more about the book here.

The Public Book Awards welcome readers for the fifth year running! The first phase of voting has already begun and will conclude on 20 April.Last year, Kiki Dimoula won the Award for Best Poetry Collection (Anoteleia), and Eftychia Giannaki the Award for Best Greek Novel (Sto pisw katisima).This year’s event marks a landmark year for Greece, given Athens’ designation as UNESCO World Book Capital for 2018.Readers are invited to highlight the books that stood out from the 2017 literary output, choosing from eleven different award categories.In addition to these, there will also be three special awards, in which readers do not participate by voting (Best Illustration in a Children’s Book Award, Publishing Imprint Award, and Public Bookshops Award).Books published by Ikaros are nominated in five different award categories. View our nominations (by category) along with the links for each one and vote for your favourite books: Greek novel:Eftychia Giannaki – Halcyon Days: http://bit.ly/AkyonidesMeres18Ισμήνη Kapantaï – Townhouse in Halandri: http://bit.ly/AstikiOikiaStoChalandri18Κυριάκος Margaritis – Kronaka: http://bit.ly/Kronaka18Δημήτρης Nollas – The Garden in Flames: http://bit.ly/OKiposStisFloges18 Translated novel: Vicente Alfonso – The Remains of Saint Lawrence (translation: Maria Palaiologou): http://bit.ly/TaLeipsanaTouAgiouLaurentiou18Jean Echenoz – Special Envoy (translation: Achilleas Kyriakidis): http://bit.ly/EidikiApestalmeni18Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere (translation: Maria Angelidou): http://bit.ly/PotekaiPouthena18Hannah Kent – The Good People (translation: Maria Angelidou): http://bit.ly/OiKaloi18George Saunders – Oblivion and Lincoln (translation: Giorgos-Ikaros Babasakis): http://bit.ly/LithiKaiLinkoln18Enrique Vila-Matas – In Kassel There Is No Logic (translation: Nanna Papanikolaou): http://bit.ly/StoKaselDenYparxeiLogiki18Alejandro Zambra – The Private Life of Trees (translation: Achilleas Kyriakidis): http://bit.ly/IdiotikiZoiTonDentron18  Greek non-fiction: Athanasios Alexandridis – Childhood Loves: http://bit.ly/PaidikoiErotes18Χρήστος Giannaras – Fall-Crisis-Hell: http://bit.ly/PtosiKrisiKolasi18Απόστολος Doxiadis – Saying and Saying Again: http://bit.ly/LegontasKaiKsanalegontas18Αλέξανδρος Kostopoulos – Bridges of Cooperation – The Marshall Plan and Greece: http://bit.ly/GefiresSinergasias18Τάκης Pappas – On a tightrope: http://bit.ly/SeTentomenoSkoini18Έφη Sapouna-Sakellaraki – When time spoke: http://bit.ly/OtanMiliseOChronos18  Contemporary Greek Poetry: Yannis Antiochos – Dissolution: http://bit.ly/Dialisis18Γιάννης Metaxas – But afterwards, afterwards...: http://bit.ly/MetaOmosMeta18Κυριάκος Charalambidis – Of the Sun and the Moon: http://bit.ly/IliouKaiSelinisAlos18Γιώργος K. Psaltis – You: http://bit.ly/Esena18  Greek Children’s Literature: Alexia Vernikou – All the Way to the Sky and Back (illustrations: Sofia Touliatou): http://bit.ly/MexriTonOuranoKaiPiso18Ιουλίτα Iliopoulou – But when will this Wizard arrive? (illustrations: Yannis Kottis – music: Giorgos Kouroupos): http://bit.ly/MaPoteThaFthaseiAytosOMagos18Μιχάλης Moulakis – A yellow leaf (illustrations: Filippos Fotiadis): http://bit.ly/EnaKitrinoFyllo18Θοδωρής Papaioannou – Silouani (illustrations: Daniela Stamatia): http://bit.ly/Silouani18Άλκηστη Halikia – Silan’s Box (illustrations: Daniela Stamatia): http://bit.ly/ToKoutiTouSilan18

The Athenian artist recounts his life to LIFO and Yannis Pantazopoulos on the occasion of the publication of his book *At the Bottom of Dreams*—Images from Andreas Embeirikos’s Octana, as well as his exhibition at the Zoumboulakis Gallery (open until Saturday 31 March). You can read an excerpt below: Photo: Paris Tavitian/LIFO I was born in Athens in 1945. Our family home was at number 23 Ypsilantou Street in Kolonaki. This large house, which has now been demolished, was a paradise of childhood adventure and exploration, full of dark corners, hidden spaces and a large, winding wooden staircase connecting the floors. It was a staircase where, at every turn, strange sounds, whispers, anxieties and fears from our childhood imaginations lurked. I grew up with parents who loved poetry and literature dearly. They had a natural affinity for the arts, and all that richness was passed on to us, without ever being imposed on us as an obligation. My mother was a teacher and my father a lawyer. So, our home was a place of ideas and reading was a matter of course. From my early secondary school years, I had made it clear what I would do in life and what I would pursue. Perhaps it is an inexplicable instinct that leads you to ‘something’. I studied printmaking at the Athens School of Fine Arts and then painting on a German government scholarship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. However, I believe that talent only exists through hard work. One may possess the raw power that guides one towards the bigger picture, but in order for this to become conscious, a framework, an environment and a culture are needed. During my childhood and teenage years, I travelled extensively in Germany. Memories of many childhood summers are linked to that country. I had experiences that connected me to a civilisation and a culture that helped shape my identity. Later, from 1977 to 1986, I lived in Berlin, whilst until 1992 I lived and worked in Brussels.Ypsilantou Street, in its extension, connected the ‘cultured’ Kolonaki with the magical, fairy-tale world of Evangelismos Park, where, amidst the green flowerbeds and statues, Vasilis, the photographer. A beloved guardian of black-and-white memories, surrounded by photographs, negatives and posed shots on painted backdrops or against a flower-filled backdrop for the secret romances of conscripts on leave with the maids from the neighbouring houses.The balconies of our house looked out directly onto the British Embassy and its gardens. In the summers, we watched from above the open-air receptions, the arrivals of dignitaries in their evening gowns and tailcoats amongst the palm trees, like scenes from the mythical sequences of the first colour films. For years we believed that the British ambassador was none other than the dapper man in the gold uniform. Much later it was revealed to us that, despite all his pomp, he was merely a driver, and the real ambassador was the seemingly insignificant, grey little man who accompanied him. It was a discrepancy that proved significant for my subsequent understanding of the world. And this became most apparent during my school years, when, from a tender age, I had become involved in a romantic relationship with the young daughter of the embassy driver, who also lived in the staff quarters.The revelation of the true roles and identities of the individuals brought us down to earth with a bump, into a reality where, through the harshness of romantic rejection, we learnt relatively early on the complex relationship between being and appearing, between the obvious and the obscured truth of the world, between overt and covert social power. In the corner of our house, Ypsilantou and Loukianou, in the square by the British Embassy, our political consciousness first awoke when, overnight, the lower section of Loukianou Street suddenly changed its name and was renamed Karaoli-Dimitriou. Further up, next to the little dairy in Lykovrysi, on the upper side of Kolonaki Square, stood the mysterious figure of an elderly man who sat, come winter or summer, on a small wooden box. He sold precious treasures from our childhood reading world, such as second-hand issues of ‘Little Heroes’. This legendary man reminded me of a work by Magritte: a seated male figure wearing a hat, through the open collar of which you can see, in place of his body, a cage with a bird. Read the rest here.