Booker-prize winning novelist Ian McEwan addresses Athens

Booker-prize winning novelist Ian McEwan addresses Athens

Ian McEwan. Image courtesy of the City of Athens

WHAT: A thrilling treat for literature lovers as the award-winning scribe Ian McEwan – author of best-selling works such as Atonement and the Booker-prize winning Amsterdam – shares his writing process in his first Athens appearance, as part of “Athens 2018 – World Book Capital”. In a talk titled “The Literary Concept of Self”, the celebrated British writer will take the Megaron stage on April 25, along with the Greek poet Haris Vlavianos, to discuss the Art of Fiction and the ways in which a novelist “devises himself” in the process of writing.

The cultural forum will be opened by the Mayor of Athens, Mr. Giorgos Kaminis and the Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy in Athens, Mr. James Bryce.

Entrance is free to the public but passes are required. They will be distributed from 17:30 on the day of the lecture, which will be in English with simultaneous translation into Greek.

For those who can’t make it, the event will also be broadcast live and with free access through the Diavlos platform (diavlos.grnet.gr), as well as on the Concert Hall’s site, www.megaron.gr.

Two days earlier, from April 23, Athens assumes the title of  “World Book Capital” for one year, and will roll out a richly stimulating calendar of public events centred around the written word. In tandem, Athens Insider is organizing two high-profile literary events around books: one in June, themed around literature and the food of displacement (to coincide with the Athens Refugee Food Festival) and one in late September, celebrating Greece’s fame as a muse for foreign scribes throughout the ages and featuring literary stars such as Victoria Hislop, Patricia Storace, Jeff Siger and Sofka Zinovieff.

WHEN: April 25 at 19.00. (On April 26, McEwan will also attend a book signing at the Public bookstore in Syntagma Square at 19.00)

WHERE: Megaron Concert Hall

Mitropoulos Hall, Leof. Vassilissis Sofias, tel: +30 210.728.2333, www.megaron.gr

About Ian McEwan

Born in 1948. He has written two collections of short stories and fourteen novels. In 1987, he won the Whitbread Award and six years later Prix Femina Étranger for Lost Child. Three of his novels were included in the final nominees for the Booker Award, which he eventually won in 1998 for Amsterdam. In 2008, The Times London included him in the list of “Fifty Greatest British Writers Since 1945” while the Daily Telegraph ranked him nineteenth on the list of “100 Most Powerful People in British Culture”. His last book Karydtsouflo was released in Greek on December 17 by Pataki Publications.