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The Public Book Awards “Pens of the Year” welcome readers for yet another year! The first phase of voting has begun and will conclude on 26 April. Once again this year, readers are invited to highlight the books that stood out from last year’s publications, choosing from eight different award categories. In addition to these, there will also be four special awards, in which readers do not participate by voting (Guest Country Award: France, Publishing Imprint Award, Illustration Award and Public Bookshops Award).Ikaros Publications’ books 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 poetry: Alexis Kyritsopoulos - A Walk in the Clouds - http://bit.ly/PigainelaStaSinnefa2016PoiisiΛέλη Bey - The Smoky Metropolis - http://bit.ly/IKapnismeniMitropoliΜεταφρασμένο Novel: George Saunders - The Tenth of December (Translation: Giorgos-Ikaros Babasakis) - http://bit.ly/DekatiDekembriou2016Michele Serra - The Lazy Ones (Translation: Dimitra Dotsi) - http://bit.ly/OiAraxtoi2016Colm Tóibín - Nora Webster (Translation: Giorgos-Ikaros Babasakis) - http://bit.ly/NoraWebster2016Juan Gabriel Vásquez - The Informers (Translation: Achilleas Kyriakidis) - http://bit.ly/OiPliroforiodotes2016Δοκίμιο, Study, Biography, Testimony: Christos Giannaras - Europe was born of the "schism" - http://bit.ly/IEvropiGennithikeApoToSxisma2016Αλέκος Papadatos - Democracy - http://bit.ly/Dimokratia2016Χαρίδημος K. Tsoukas - The tragedy of the commons - http://bit.ly/ITragodiaTonKoinon2016Ελληνικό Novel: Dimitris Nollas - Marbles in the middle - http://bit.ly/MarmaraStiMesiΔημήτρης Oikonomou - The Trapped – http://bit.ly/OiEgklovismenoi2016Παιδική Literature: Alexis Kyritsopoulos - A Trip to the Clouds – http://bit.ly/PigainelaStaSinnefa2016PΘοδωρής Papaioannou / Iris Samartzi - Across the Way – http://bit.ly/Apenanti2016Η The second phase of voting will begin after the announcement of the 10 most popular books in each category. Readers will then be invited to vote among these to select the most popular book between 2 and 22 May. The winning books will be announced at a special event. Good luck to the nominees!

To mark the celebration of World Children’s Book Day 2016, the Greek Section of IBBY – the Greek Children’s Book Circle – organised the annual awards ceremony on Saturday 2 April 2016 at Technopolis in the Municipality of Athens, honouring individuals and organisations whose work promotes a love of reading, as well as awards to creators for the writing, illustration and translation of literary books for children and young people (books published in 2015).On this significant evening, the graphic novel ‘Democracy’ by Alekos Papadatos, Avraam Kawa and Annie di Donna won the award in the category ‘Award for an author of a book for teenagers and young adults’!&The book, which was published last October, offers a contemporary perspective on how one of the greatest inventions in world political history came about, thrilling readers and critics alike: “An amazing book that unravels all aspects of democracy, touching on the points we usually overlook in historical accounts. The element of chance, the circumstances, the risk and the perseverance of the enlightened people of every historical period.”Argyro Bozoni (http://www.thetoc.gr) ‘The contributors to this volume have not embellished reality. On the contrary, they have often chosen its darker versions, in order to show a human Athens rather than a city shrouded in the mist of myth. Private reasons are often stronger than public ones; base motives overshadow the noble.” Giorgos N. Perantonakis (http://www.bookpress.gr)During the award ceremony, the launch of the major campaign by the Hellenic Book Association (ENELVI) for World Book Day (23 April) was also announced, with the slogan ‘I Read & I Change”, in which the Greek Section of the IBBY is participating as a partner organisation alongside the Society of Authors.

The shortlists for this year’s IBBY Greece Awards for writing, illustration and translation of books published in 2015 were announced last week.We were delighted to see two of our books nominated: The book by Thodoris Papaioannou, illustrated by Iris Samartzi, *Apenanti* (Across), is nominated for the award for picture book illustrator and author, for both the illustrations and the text, and the graphic novel "Democracy" by Alekos Papadatos, Avraam Kawa and Annie Di Donna is nominated for the award for author of a book for teenagers and young adults.The winners will be announced and the awards presented to the creators on Saturday 2 April 2016 at 7.00 pm at the annual celebration for World Children’s Book Day, at Aeriofylakio 1 – Amphitheatre at Technopolis, Municipality of Athens (100 Piraeus Street, Gazi).

The Teloglion Foundation, having organised a series of significant exhibitions, continues its major retrospectives on artists who have influenced and continue to influence contemporary artistic creation. On 18 March, the exhibition ‘The World of Odysseas Elytis: Poetry and Painting’ opens to mark the 20th anniversary of his death.The exhibition will comprise three sections: a) Elytis’s paintings and collages, b) excerpts from his aesthetic essays on great painters and sculptors (such as Panagiotis Zografos, Matisse, Picasso, Theophilos, Parthenis, Hatzikyriakos-Gikas, Engonopoulos, Kapralos, Nikolaou, Tsarouchis, Kanellis, Moralis, Fassianos, Derpapas), which will be accompanied by representative works by these artists. The same section will also feature the poet’s manuscripts, his first editions and a wealth of archival material (the Nobel Prize, documents, etc.). c) Works by distinguished contemporary artists inspired by Elytis’s poetry (N. Mela, Tetsis, Theocharakis, Tsoklis, Paniaras, Sorogas, Makroupalis, Botsoglou, Papagiannis, Psychopedis, Kottis, Adamakos, Pantelias, Varotsos, Bokoros, Lappas, Liti). The exhibition is curated by Takis Mavrotas, with the support of the poet Ioulita Iliopoulou. Works and materials have been loaned by the Benaki Museum, the Gennadius Library, the National Gallery, the Theocharakis Foundation and numerous artists and collectors.The exhibition will be opened by the President of the Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, on 18 March 2016 (the 20th anniversary of the poet’s death), and will be honoured by the presence of leading figures from the worlds of literature and the arts.On Monday 21 March 2016, World Poetry Day, the Teloglion Foundation is organising, as part of the exhibition, a concert by composer G. Kouroupou featuring the music of O. Elytis’s poetry at the Royal Theatre.Information on the books by Odysseas Elytis published by Ikaros can be found here.  Especially for the month of March, the commemorative edition "Odysseas Elytis – The Navigator of the Century" will be on sale for €30.00 (40% discount) on our website. If you wish to purchase the book, please enter the discount code NAFTILOS in the discount coupon field.