70 years on the wings of ‘Ikaros’

Journalist Alexandra Kastania met with us at the Ikaros bookshop and wrote an article to mark our 70th anniversary. We thank her very much. The Ikaros publishing house is celebrating seven decades of existence and creative endeavour this year. Following in the footsteps of their parents, the grandchildren of Nikos Karidis, one of the three founders, are preparing to take up the baton, and the publishing house is moving steadily from the years of the poetry of Elytis, Seferis, Cavafy and other classics into the digital age. “What do you say, shall we set up a publishing house?” The question was posed by Alekos Patsifas, then aged 31, to 24-year-old Mario Ploritis, at the Kakoulidis bookshop on Omirou Street, one autumn morning in 1943. “And with what money are we going to publish?’ he replied hesitantly. ‘We’ll see…’. From left: Kimon Fraier, Alekos Segopoulos, Nikos Karidis, G.P. Savvidis, Nikos Gatsos, Alekos Patsifas. Seated are Nikos Hatzikyriakos-Gikas and Odysseas Elytis. “We went out, we walked the streets of occupied Athens…”, Ploritis recounted several years later. “The day—I remember—was sunny and cheerful, hovering over the sad, long-suffering city. And we began, recklessly, to make plans, with the ease of our age and the times – when everything was impossible and, at the same time, possible, when we were all planning for Tomorrow, knowing that Tomorrow might not exist…”.The third ‘partner’ in that daring venture was the 26-year-old poet Nikos Karydis. “The way in which the initial capital for ‘Ikaros’ was raised is remarkable, given that none of its founders had any financial resources available,” says his eldest daughter, Chrysi, who, together with her sister, Katerina, has been at the helm of the publishing house for the last twenty-nine years. “One sold his typewriter, another his backgammon set; a wealthier friend lent them money, and that’s how the idea began to take shape.” Nikos Karydis in Ikaros’s bookshop.The aim was to publish works mainly by Greek authors, and, indeed, by young ones. However, it was destined to begin with a foreign book. “We found a printing house in Thiseio, on Psaromilingou Street,” Ploritis recounted. “And every morning we would set off, Nikos and Alekos from Patisia, and I from Makrygianni; we would cross hills and streets, on foot of course, through the freezing cold and sleet to supervise the printing. And then we would head up to our ‘bookshop’ to get on with the rest of the work. Despite the difficult conditions, in January 1944, Ikaros’s first book was published:  It was Knut Hamsun’s ‘Under the Autumn Star’, translated by Vassos Daskalakis. Gradually, ‘Ikaros’ began to become a haunt for the most talented Greek writers of the time. At midday, K. Politis, G. Theotokas,  K. Parashos, T. Papatsonis, A. Karantonis, O. Elytis, N. Gatsos, N. Engonopoulos, N. Detzortzis, K. Kastoriadis, P. Karavias and many others. Indeed, several of these poets and prose writers soon entrusted the publication of their works to the newly established publishing house, whilst well-known painters, who were also members of the same circle, such as G. Tsarouchis, N. Hatzikyriakos-Gikas and G. Moralis, were keen to illustrate the books with their own unique drawings.One of the most significant milestones in the history of ‘Ikaros’ occurred in 1947, when it published poems by C.P. Cavafy for the first time in Greece. Furthermore, to this day it remains the exclusive publisher of the works of the two Greek poets honoured with the Nobel Prize in Literature, George Seferis and Odysseas Elytis. Despite the remarkable success of ‘Ikaros’, Marios Ploritis decided to step down to devote himself to journalism and the theatre, whilst Alekos Patsifas founded the record label ‘Lyra’ and, consequently, played a less active role in the publishing house. “Our father, during the years he was at the helm of the publishing house and with less help now from his colleagues, faced many obstacles, but, through hard work and dedication to his goals, he managed to overcome them,” notes Chrysoula. “This fact could send an optimistic message for the present day as well.” “My daughters can keep ‘Ikaros’ going. It is difficult, but not impossible.”On the afternoon of 13 December 1984, Nikos Karydis passed away suddenly. “In his desk drawer, however, we found a letter,” recalls Chrysí, “in which he had written: ‘My daughters can either keep “Ikaros” or sell it’. He had said nothing else about the possibility of selling it. The rest of the letter referred to the option of keeping it. It was, therefore, clear what he himself wanted us to do.” A few years later, from the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, radical changes took place in the book market. ‘Ikaros’ followed suit: the book distribution network expanded, new partnerships were established, and printing operations were modernised.  “The big challenge for us back then was to move with the times without betraying the identity of ‘Ikaros’ and the values that had distinguished it from the very first years of its foundation,” says Katerina. “And I think we succeeded.” However, to what extent and in what way has the current economic crisis affected the historic publishing house? “From 2010 to the present day, sales in the book industry have fallen by more than 40%,” notes Katerina. “For us, one of the saddest consequences is that we are no longer able to publish titles that we know from the outset are not destined to achieve high sales. In the past, we could propose works —whether by new poets and prose writers who were not yet widely known, or works that were more ‘challenging’ in terms of style and subject matter—which were aimed at a specific readership, because these were supported by the sales of the rest. However, this is much more difficult to achieve today.”In fact, according to recent surveys, Greeks are not only buying fewer books amid the adverse economic climate, but when they do decide to spend time reading, they mainly choose ‘light’ novels. ‘Every author has their own audience,’ explains Chrysoula. ‘What worries me, of course, regarding these particular books is how and to what extent they influence young people’s tastes and criteria.’ “And another question is how many of these will still be around, for example, thirty years from now,” adds Katerina. Could reading, through the intellectual enrichment it provides, serve as an antidote to the current crisis, given that this is largely a crisis of culture and values? “Certainly. But, unfortunately, in our country we are moving in a completely different direction…”, emphasises Chrysoula. “I am more optimistic”, replies Katerina. “Noting that new parents are much more selective about the books they buy for their children and seek quality and aesthetic appeal in them, I believe that future generations will consist of better readers and, consequently, better citizens.”…And the tradition continues… Meanwhile, alongside the second generation of publishers in the Karydis family, the third has already begun working. Marilena Panourgia, daughter of Chrysoula, and Nikos Argyris, son of Katerina, have been following in the footsteps of their mothers and grandfather for more than ten years now.The two younger ones, upon joining the publishing house, identified the changes that needed to be made. So, following the upgrade of the technical equipment, they began to propose ideas for new categories and book titles: ‘Seferis, Elytis, Cavafy and the other classical poets have a readership that is constantly being renewed. The publisher’s duty, however, is to discover new, notable writers and bring their works to light,” explains Nikos. Now, the ‘Ikaros’ catalogue is being enriched more and more with works by debuting and talented Greek and foreign authors. Katerina Karidi, Marilena Panourgia, Nikos Argyris.At the same time, Marilena and Nikos introduced children’s books to ‘Ikaros’ for the first time, and with great commercial success:  “We believe that, in order to encourage someone to seek out quality reading material as an adult, you must provide them with stimuli and bring them into contact with it from the very earliest years of their life,” notes Marilena.A prime example is the series of children’s books by Alexis Kyritsopoulos, entitled ‘If I Read Poets of the 1930s Generation’. “This series is ‘Ikaros’ most characteristic bridge between classical works and children’s books,” says Marilena. “The author has drawn inspiration from poems by Seferis and Engonopoulos and, based on these, has written fairy tales, which are accompanied by beautiful illustrations.”However, the two youngest members of ‘Ikaros’ could not overlook the need for the company to transition into the digital age. This publishing house, therefore, being among the first to become active in the field of e-reading, provides all the titles it has released since 2010 in digital format (as well as in print).  Specifically, to date it offers around 35–40 books in digital format, whilst at the same time planning to digitise and sell its older works as e-books. How is the Greek reading public responding to this innovation? ‘As far as “Ikaros” is concerned, digital book sales in 2012 saw a 140% increase compared to 2011,’ replies Nikos. “However, in absolute terms, there are still few readers in our country who prefer reading on a screen rather than on paper.”A ‘flight’ towards the futureMarking the historic publishing house’s 70th anniversary (for which a series of events is planned later this year), thoughts about the future are naturally on everyone’s mind. “The ideal would be,” say Nikos and Marilena, “if we could one day pass on ‘Ikaros’ to our own children, just as our mothers handed it down to us, having in turn preserved the values and quality left to them by our grandfather.”