A brilliant read, full of humour and spontaneity, Polly Samson’s skilled writing offers a fascinating, often voyeuristic account of the sexual jealousy, alcoholism, and bohemian lifestyle that pervaded the creative set in 1960’s Hydra. Recounted through Erica, the daughter of Australia’s tragic literary couple, writers George Johnston and...
Read moreSwedish Ambassador Charlotte Sammelin on working from home with 'King Gustaf’s portrait watching over her as she sneaks a cookie’ to ponderings on state surveillance and the fragile future of democracy. As I write about my confinement it is the Hellenic Republic’s national day. Instead of sitting here at the Swedish residence in...
Read moreIf Tsitsipas’ sculpted abs don’t make you feel like a lesser mortal already, he has now uploaded a Quarantine Workout video coaxing us into action. Time to let go off those WFH snacks and get your beach-unready body into shape. Stefanos Tsitsipas has done some incredibly crazy and… cool things – we’re not quite sure how to rat...
Read morePhilosopher, grecophile, born-again British pop star… Harry Lloyd – aka Waiting For Smith – is on track for the top. And he has Greece to thank for it, writes Amanda Dardanis. Five years ago, Harry Lloyd was working as a ski instructor in Courchevel when he hit a mogul and flipped during avalanche training. In the fatef...
Read moreHow do you make sense of an unseen ‘crown-shaped’ threat? In our series of Insider Stories, sequestered Athenians share their feelings of confusion, boredom, reflection, joy, hope and solidarity. Artist Claire Tsalouchidis confesses to feeling like a bystander, a shadow script writer inadvertently drawn into a Hotel California-like bizarr...
Read moreIt was Blaise Pascal who said that all the troubles of humanity came about because of the difficulty men had in simply being happy to sit alone in their rooms. In the first of our Insider stories series on reflections of being confined, Haris Vlavianos, poet, translator, literary critic and Professor of History and Politics at the America...
Read moreAs tourism marketing moves from glossy picture-perfect advertising to cater to an eco-conscious, inquisitive and technologically-advanced traveller, Sudha Nair-Iliades speaks to Angela Gerekou, President of the Greek National Tourism Organization on the radical changes in global tourism and Greece’s response to unlocking its tourism poten...
Read moreCyprus’ ‘Project Season Women’ will be presenting a staged reading of Natalie Haynes’ novel ‘A Thousand Ships’, directed by Magdalena Zira and Athina Kasiou, on February 22nd 2020, at the British Museum in London. By Elena Panayides The best-selling novel retells the Troy myth, that has huge cultural significance for Western c...
Read morePassage to Paradise – Hellenic Sketches of the Mind traces the arc of Yannis Zervos’ eventful, chequered life, criss-crossing places and people in a racy, engaging style, peppered with dry humour, incredible story-telling skills and perceptive insights into modern Greek history. I am having dinner with Eleni Karvouni, an old f...
Read moreGlobally celebrated and critically acclaimed British Cypriot author Alex Michaelides visited Greece this week promoting his record-breaking debut novel, The Silent Patient, available in Greek from Dioptra Publishing. The instant number one ‘New York Times’ bestseller, was also the #2 most sold fiction book on ‘Amazon’ in 2019 whilst also ...
Read moreIn her 11th floor office of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation in Pangrati, Fleurette Karadontis, shares the ‘marathon of baby steps’ that have brought her and her colleagues to the realisation of a 25-year vision, the opening of the Foundation’s Museum for Contemporary and Modern Art in Athens. On her bookshelves, leather-bound to...
Read moreWith her chunky neck pieces, trademark pageboy bob haircut, dark sunglasses covering much of her face and a reputation that precedes any face-to-face encounter, Dame Anna Wintour, DBE, editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988 and artistic director for Condé Nast, is arguably the most visible and vocal personality in the fashion world, widely praised fo...
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