Athens Tales: a polyphonic hymn to the eternal, ever-changing city
What: The Athens launch of Athens Tales, a portrait of the city through its writers, published by Oxford University Press. Created by translator and Athens resident Joshua Barley, this anthology brings together eighteen short stories from the last hundred and fifty years of the city’s history.
Some of the writers are well-known authors and others are emerging voices, never before translated. From love stories to crime fiction to gritty realism, each tale presents a different literary voice and a different Athenian perspective. This book is as much an introduction to Greek writing as it is a polyphonic hymn to the eternal, ever-changing city.
On December 10th, Athens Insider brings together translator Joshua Barley and the four most recent Greek voices of the anthology: Amanda Michalopoulou, Kallia Papadaki, Christos Kythreotis and Kostas Peroulis. The stories of these writers were all published after 2010, during Athens’s latest incarnation of Crisis and post-Crisis.
Against this backdrop, their stories depict an artistic couple who have recently moved to the city from Paris, a blind man who is kidnapped by mysterious mafiosi, a grandson digging up the bones of his grandmother, and much more. As well as an introduction to the book, there will be a discussion by the authors and the translator about the challenges and joys of modern Athenian writing.
When: 10 December at 7pm
Where: Athens Insider Collective, Archelaou 8, 11635 Athens
RSVP your presence to info@insider-magazine.gr
