Category: CULTURE

  • Athens named World Book Capital 2018

    Athens named World Book Capital 2018

    Athens has been named World Book Capital 2018 by the director general of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. The Greek capital was chosen on the recommendation of an advisory committee, comprising representatives of the IPA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and UNESCO, based on the “outstanding quality” of its programme of activities for the book trade in Greece. Every…

  • Greco-Persian

    Greco-Persian

    I find the proposition that people should learn Modern Greek because this will improve their English vaguely amusing. Granted there do exist an extremely large number of Greek loanwords and Greek-derived neologisms in the English language but more often than not, English speaking Greeks tend to learn the Greek word AFTER they have discovered its…

  • Political Cavafy

    Political Cavafy

    Constantine Cavafy is the pre-eminent poet of the Greek diaspora. His poetry seems unchanged by the time. His work, though small compared to that of other fellow artists, is huge in terms of importance and the development it launched in Hellenic poetic events. His poetry was an explosion that precipitated the old poetry, released his…

  • Constantine Cavafy: The Poet of the Diaspora

    Constantine Cavafy: The Poet of the Diaspora

    I am from Constantinople by descent but was born in Alexandria in a house on Sheriff Street. I was very young when I left for England where I spent much of my childhood. I returned to that place when I was older but only after having lived in France for a spell and after passing…