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We are welcoming autumn with a host of important books for all ages. Read on for more information about the titles we plan to publish by the end of the year.  GREEK POETRYHaris Megalynos: Ferte Yli Haris Megalynos (the pen name of Charalambos Katsis, b. 1951) grew up in Athens. He graduated from the Law School of the University of Athens. He began writing at a young age and has published collections of poetry and translations. Ikaros Publications has also released his poetry collection On the Country Road (1994).&Kyriakos Charalambides: Poems A comprehensive volume containing all the poetry collections to date by the award-winning Cypriot poet. In 2017, Kyriakos Charalambides began his collaboration with Ikaros Publications with the poetry collection Sun and Moon, or... GREEK PROSE Mino Efstathiadis: The DiverMinos Efstathiadis launches his collaboration with Ikaros with a powerful crime novel that will thrill even the most seasoned readers of crime fiction, ensuring it remains in their memory for a long time to come.A chain of successive suicides and unexplained deaths begins to revolve around a film. Within it, the Diver comes back to life. Sometimes there are images that transcend the human imagination. Kriton Salpingtis: Shattered ToastKriton Salpingtis’s new book, Shattered Toast, is a gripping crime novel set in Thessaloniki during the Occupation. ESSAY/TESTIMONYChristos Giannaras: Metaphysics as a Timely ChallengeA lively dialogue between Christos Yannaras and the principal translator of his works into English, Norman Russell. The book serves as an excellent introduction to Christos Yannaras’s theory and an opportunity for those familiar with his work to explore his thinking in depth. Apostolos Doxiadis: Amateur Revolutionary – A Personal Novel. The book is a political autobiography covering the years of the Dictatorship and, at the same time, an extremely interesting coming-of-age story. DIARYGeorge Seferis: Days H & Days I Edited by: Katerina Krikou-Davis These two volumes complete George Seferis’s personal diaries, covering the last decade of his life.Days VIII span from January 1961 to December 1963. They cover the final months of Seferis’s tenure as Ambassador to Great Britain and extend through to his return to Greece and the announcement of the Nobel Prize.Days IX begin in February 1964 and the last entry is in May 1971, a period that also includes the imposition of the junta in Greece.These are two voluminous books which, in addition to George Seferis’s entries, include an introductory note by the editor, notes, an appendix with supplementary material and an index of persons. In her extensive commentary on the entries, Katerina Krikou-Davis provides factual explanations, identifies literary references, clarifies the political and cultural events of the era, and provides information on the countless figures who pass through the pages, whilst also highlighting the parallels with the poet’s other works. PSYCHOANALYTICSAnna Potamianou: The Poetry of DreamsThe new book will be published in the Psychoanalytic series, edited by Athanasios Alexandridis, and explores psychoanalytic theories of dreams. FOREIGN PROSE Donatella Di Pietrantonio (Italy): L’Arminuta Translation: Dimitra Dotsi Novel ‘And who is your mum?’ she asked me desperately. ‘I have two. One is your mother.” With a suitcase in one hand and a bag of shoes in the other, a thirteen-year-old girl rings the doorbell, behind which an unknown, foreign world awaits her. This is how this explosive, gripping story begins, with a teenager who, from one day to the next, is forced to return to her biological family and lose everything: her comforts, her dearest friends, the unconditional love of her parents—or rather, those she thought were her parents. Her new home is small, dark, full of siblings and with little food. Arminuta, the girl they sent back, as her new classmates christened her in the local dialect, is searching for an answer, but also for her place in this world.Donatella Di Pietrantonio listens to her land, this unknown, rugged and wild mountainous region of Abruzzo, and explores the themes of motherhood, parental responsibility, family care, abandonment and belonging with a rare expressive intensity and from an original perspective.The book was named one of the bestsellers of 2017 in Italy and its rights have already been sold to 21 countries, whilst a film adaptation is also in the pipeline. Min Jin Lee (South Korea): PachinkoTranslation: Vasia TzanakariNovelYeongdo, Korea, 1911In a small fishing village on the coast of the East Sea, a fisherman marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The poor couple have a daughter, their precious Sanja. Sanja’s unexpected pregnancy at the age of just sixteen, by a married man, brings humiliation upon the family. However, Isaac, a young priest, offers her the chance to follow him to Japan and live together as husband and wife. Only Sanja’s salvation will be the beginning of her story: she follows a man she has only just met to a country hostile to her, where she has neither friends nor a home, and without being able to communicate with people as she does not know the language.Thus begins the unique narrative of an immigrant family spanning four generations and eight decades. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, its members remain deeply connected as they grapple with issues of faith, identity and constant survival. Kopano Matlwa (South Africa): The Night-Blooming Flower (Period pain)Translation: Maria FakinouNovelWhen Masetsamba achieves her greatest childhood dream and becomes a doctor, her ambition comes up against the harsh reality of South Africa’s public health system.She tries to ease the pain of others – working in a hospital with minimal resources, where the difficulties constantly test her resilience – yet at the same time she must also quell her own personal demons: the intense pain of her period and the shame associated with it, the grief over her brother’s suicide, and the pressures of a deeply religious and reactionary mother who does everything she can to separate her from her only friend, Niassa. The fiercely political and militant Niassa, originally from Zimbabwe, will open Masetsamba’s eyes to the prevailing xenophobic tension that bears the hallmarks of apartheid.Nightflower skilfully captures the violent and chaotic atmosphere of present-day South Africa and explores issues of race and gender, observing the medical profession through the eyes of the heroine. Truly, how much humanity is there in our modern world? GRAPHIC NOVELSoloúp: The Collector – Six short stories about a bad wolfIkaros Publications are launching their collaboration with Soloúp (the pen name of Antonis Nikolopoulos) by publishing his new graphic novel The Collector, which follows his award-winning book Aivali, beloved by readers and critics alike.In a divorce, who wins when the child is estranged from one parent? To what extent is the justice system complicit in this injustice? Butterflies, stamps, thimbles, teeth, taxis. Shadows and black holes. A group of friends in a café, a canary and a burglary, two friends, the door of a block of flats, Little Red Riding Hood. Five short stories and a fairy tale about the ‘big bad’ wolf. Antonis Nikolopoulos studied Politics at Panteion University and holds a PhD from the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication at the University of the Aegean. He has contributed cartoons, comics and comic strips to numerous newspapers and magazines, including To Pontiki, Vima tis Kyriakis, Goal News, Babel, Galera, Os3, Shedia, Metro and others.To date, 13 personal albums of cartoons and comics have been published, whilst in 2012 his thesis *Greek Comics* was released, the most comprehensive study to date on the history and development of Greek comic strips. CHILDREN’S BOOKSBenji Davies: Noah and the Whale (Board Book) (The Storm Whale Board Book)Translation: Antonis PapatheodoulouAges: from 3 years oldBenji Davies’ book that stole readers’ hearts is now available in a board book edition, with sturdy pages suitable for little hands!The story of a lonely little boy, a small whale that washed up on the shore, and a friendship that will change both their lives forever. Oliver Jeffers: Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet EarthTranslation: Filippos MandilarasAges: from 3 years oldThe popular and award-winning Oliver Jeffers creates a witty illustrated book, a tender introduction to the world around us inspired by the arrival of his newborn son, Harland. #1 New York Times bestseller Best book of 2017 according to TIME magazine, NPR and the Boston Globe So hello! Welcome to this planet. We call it Earth. The world we live in is a marvellous place, especially if you’ve only just arrived. I imagine you’ll have a whole host of questions in your little mind, so let’s explore what our planet is made of and how we live on it. From the land and the sky, to people and time, these notes can serve as a guide and the start of your journey on Earth. And they’ll help you think about lots of things for yourself. But don’t forget to keep notes so that others can read them too… Some things are very complicated, some not so much. Remember that there are many of us here, on this planet, so be kind.Oliver Jeffers & Claire Freedman-Alison Friend: Bear’s StoryTranslation: Maria ZourariAges: from 3 years oldBear really loves reading stories. But there’s a problem: he’s read the storybook so many times that it’s starting to fall apart. And one day, a sudden gust of wind blew the pages away. So, Bear made up his mind. He would write his own story! But when he sits down to write, not a single idea comes to mind. He’s probably going to need a bit of help...A wonderful story by the successful author Claire Freedman, with enchanting illustrations by Alison Friend.  Linda Sarah - Ben Mantle: Tom’s Magnificent MachinesTranslation: Antonis PapatheodoulouAges: 3 years and upFrom the author of Friends on the Hill comes another emotionally charged yet deeply optimistic book that thoughtfully explores themes such as love and support between children and parents.Tom and his Dad loved making things together—and more specifically, things that move! Soon their inventions became bigger, faster and crazier. Now their house was full of creations that went up and down, spun round and round, and flew. And then, a change came, as fast as lightning. Dad lost his job. Sadness spread through the house like a winter cloud. Until Tom came up with a brilliant idea inspired by their unique vehicle inventions, creating something amazing, something the world had never seen before... Axel Scheffler: Pip and Posy: The Christmas TreeTranslation: Filippos MandilarasAges: from 1 year oldThe new story of Pip and Posy is a Christmas one!Pip and Posy baked biscuits to decorate the tree, but they’ve gone missing! Shortly afterwards, Pip gets a tummy ache. Can you guess why? A funny story, with lots of decorations for children to count and a few words about kindness and honesty. Axel Scheffler: Tick and Tella: The Balloon – Special Edition (Book and puzzle cubes)Translation: Filippos MandilarasAges: from 1 year oldThe Balloon, one of Tick and Tella’s most beloved stories, is released in a new edition that includes the book and nine wonderful puzzle cubes in a box.The ideal gift for every pre-school child! Helen Stephens: How to Hide A Lion at SchoolTranslation: Marilena PanourgiaAges: from 3 years oldFrom the creator of the successful book series ‘How to Hide a Lion’, Helen Stephens brings us a new, exciting story featuring Ellie and the lion who are never apart, not even at school! Lions aren’t allowed to go to school. But Ellie’s lion doesn’t want to be left on his own. He secretly follows her, and accidentally ends up with her on the school trip to the museum. Can Ellie hide the lion from her teacher?KNOWLEDGE BOOKS Ikaros is set to publish two new children’s knowledge books in a deluxe hardback edition, exploring Space and Planet Earth, translated by Ilias Maglinis.How did the Big Bang occur and how was our world created? What is the universe like today? What was our planet like 250 million years ago? How do volcanoes work? How has human activity affected our world, and what can we do to save it?The two books Destination: Space & Destination: Planet Earth offer young readers (aged 7+) a detailed introduction to understanding our world, its creation and its evolution to the present day in a simple and meaningful way. Each book also includes a large double-sided poster. Dr. Christoph Englert- Tom Clohosy Cole: Destination: Space (Destination: Space) Hop on the space shuttle and get ready for the journey of a lifetime as you explore deep space with a team of five other astronauts.This journey of discovery will take you through our own Solar System and beyond, to distant and vast galaxies. At each stop, you’ll learn more about the science behind the stars, planets, meteors and comets of our skies, the history of our universe and the origins of our own planet, Earth. Jo Nelson- Tom Clohosy Cole: Destination: Planet Earth Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime as you explore Planet Earth. You’ll climb the highest mountains, dive into the deepest oceans and experience extreme weather phenomena on a journey full of discoveries.You’ll learn what shapes the weather and how the climate is changing, see how the water cycle works, and explore the science behind earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. You’ll learn about the threats facing our beautiful planet — and what you can do to save Planet Earth. Dr Steve Brusatte-Daniel Chester: Day of the DinosaursTranslation: Chara GiannakopoulouAges: from 7 years oldWho were the dinosaurs really?What was their life like in the sea?How did they defend themselves?Which of them were herbivores?Why did they ultimately fail to survive?Written by palaeontologist Dr Steve Brusatte, this educational book invites us to journey into a world lost in the depths of the past, many millions of years ago... exploring more than 100 different species of dinosaur.A journey through four periods—the Triassic, the Early-Middle Jurassic, the Late Jurassic and the Cretaceous—where we will discover how dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals lived on land, in water and in the sky.The book’s substantial size, which includes notes and a detailed index, combined with the vivid colours of Daniel Chester’s illustrations, will win over even the most discerning readers!

Read below the interview given by Eftychia Giannaki to the newspaper Ta Nea and its new column ‘Recommendations’, on the occasion of the publication of *The City in the Light*, the third part of the Athens Trilogy featuring Inspector Haris Kokkinos.  The last time I was moved by a complete narrative was… a few days ago when I met Maria, who was feeding the stray cats outside the Archaeological Museum, even though she has lost her job and everything she owned and is trying to sell her helmet for ten euros, because she no longer has a motorbike, so what use is the helmet to her, but she doesn’t have a mobile either because it was stolen, and often she doesn’t even have enough to eat, though there is a cheese pie seller who helps her out at the end of the day. Though the narrative was incomplete, it was made whole by the silences, the glances and the complicit coexistence in this city that has been grinding everything down and digesting it all for centuries, inside and outside the Archaeological Museum, in such a way that even for the stories it makes no difference whether they are true or not. It is simply the navel of my own, or rather our own, world. If I could write to music, I would choose… to listen to classical music. At this time of year, I could listen for hours to Debussy’s ‘Afternoon of a Faun’ or Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ or Chopin’s ‘Nocturnes’, which I used to play. Not as I used to play them, but as Brigitte Engerer performs them, preferably.The most painful thing about the writing process… is that at some point you emerge from the imaginary world you’ve created—that is, from your own Garden of Eden—and find yourself back in the real world, which you realise you should never have left. The next day you repeat the same thing, not out of stupidity, but out of necessity. You are addicted to the falsehood of words. You are addicted to yourself. No higher power cares to save you from your writing, and this realisation is painful and, in a way, inevitable.Three books I would definitely recommend for a sixth-form library would be… Camus’s *The Stranger*, Kafka’s *The Trial* and Orwell’s *1984*. I read them for the first time as a teenager, and that was enough for me to realise that literature would never be a simple matter in my life. The criticism I accept concerns… every kind of opinion and perspective. When it is substantiated, it can open up a fruitful dialogue; when it is not substantiated, it may end in an interesting monologue. In any case, I seek it out. Self-criticism begins with… the word, moves on to the sentence, the paragraph, the chapter, the book, the books. I always look at the part, but also at the whole, to ensure it has some meaning so that it can exist and be read over time.The opening of a classic book that I envy is… the opening sentence of Virginia Woolf’s *Mrs Dalloway*. I won’t write it down, though, so you can’t look it up.When I hear about the ‘crisis in literature’ or ‘literature of the crisis’, I think of… those who judge without reading and those who read without judging. Find out more about Eftychia Giannaki here: www.giannaki.com

Read below the interview given by Yannis Efthymiadis to Poli Kremnioti for the newspaper *Avgi*, on the occasion of his new poetry collection *Patreida*. “‘The revolution will come from deep darkness,’ declares Yannis Efthymiadis in his latest poetry collection, ‘Patreida’. Introspective yet thoroughly political, this poetry redefines the poet’s relationship with the concept of homeland, which is now approached on the basis of a re-engagement with humanity as both the individual self and a collective entity. ‘I shall say that for me, homeland is all that I love and all that I have seen,’ writes the poet in the first of the four sections into which the poetic composition is structured."In this work, I attempt to capture the image of a homeland as we have all experienced it over the last few decades, through our collective memory and through the loving relationships between people.Through this endeavour, I consciously began to redefine its meaning, to disconnect it from the narrow concept of place and to link it to people, to the lived experience of both those born here and those who found themselves in this place, and made it their homeland. Thus, the concept of homeland transcends its narrow geographical boundaries and is redefined within a much broader context, now as an image of ourselves through the other,” notes Yannis Efthymiadis.In the first section of the same name, the poet’s gaze turns to the people and things that make up the homeland; in the second – ‘The Week of the Depths”—highlights the grim reality of our world as reflected in the years of deep crisis in our country and globally.The third section is an elegy, “not, however, in the sense of a lament of resignation, but of realisation—that pivotal moment, in other words, that makes you realise you must react,” says Yannis Efthymiadis. In the final section – ‘the revolution will come from deep darkness’ – the poet urges action not out of over-optimism, but out of awareness. As he puts it, ‘poetry owes nothing, but poets owe a great deal’. In a time of transition, within a fluid international environment and a globalised context where boundaries are blurring and identities are shifting, Yannis Efthymiadis draws on the poetic tradition of his homeland, playing with rhyme and metre to highlight the internal structure and rhythm that run through the composition. ‘Rhythm is an element closely interwoven with our contemporary poetic tradition. I returned to the source because the deeper one digs, the more universally one speaks. Our times frighten me, because personal and collective identity has been lost; whether as an act, an expectation or a vision, fundamental codes of values have been distorted and counterfeited, which disorients us and leads us to chase illusory dreams. The omnipotence of money has marginalised our humanity, our aesthetics, our ethics; it has disrupted the hierarchy of values in our lives.”“Is this an issue that concerns poetry internationally?” we ask him. “The issues highlighted by our times concern poets, creators and artists all over the world. I think we are all in a period of searching and redefining; we are trying to pick up the thread where we left off when the post-war social vision collapsed. The reconnection with form and a more structured mode is a phenomenon that poets across the world are seeking today, so that they may build a new poetic reality on a firmer foundation. It is also a healthy reaction to the chaotic freedom to which the over-interpretation of postmodernism has led.” In this sense, the political dimension of poetry comes to the fore. "Poetry, from its very inception, is a deeply political phenomenon; it contains within it conflict and revolution, first and foremost against ourselves, against any certainty, whether we have defined it ourselves or it occurs without our knowledge.We always speak politically in poetry, even in its most lyrical outbursts, if one considers that poetic discourse comes to challenge the narrow economic and technical framework of the era. Perhaps, and indeed most likely, poetry cannot provide the solutions, but it can give us the strength to find them."Perhaps this is why Yannis Efthymiadis concludes his elegy with the firm assertion: ‘in arid times, the root grows deeper...’.

On the occasion of the publication of her first novella, *Sundays, in Summer*, Marialena Semitekolou gave an interview to Sofia Politou-Ververi of Nakas bookshops. Read it below: Your debut with the book ‘Sundays, in Summer’ is a powerful one; it is a very expressive book with a heroine who draws us into her heavy inaction. Tell us about your choice to present Marina, the protagonist of your book, within the summer atmosphere of a city. Summer is not an ‘easy’ season. I chose it for Marina precisely for this reason. It is the season when people – young and old – grow up. Our growing up is not all joy; it involves pain and disappointments. Yet, in a strange paradox, the time of summer – which makes us grow up – seems to stand still; it doesn’t do you any favours: it is slow to turn to night, the days last longer, and one has the feeling that the slowness of summer time is constantly asking something of you. It was, then, this contradiction of simultaneous growth and suspension that probably led me to summer. And indeed, an urban summer that intensifies this sensation and gives it the image of a prolonged pause, rather than enriching it, which is what would happen in a natural landscape bathed in summer light.There is no typical happy ending in your book; what was your intention when you began writing your book ‘Sundays, in the Summer’?I knew the book’s final sentence and was entirely focused on it long before I wrote what came before. So perhaps it is a book written from the end to the beginning, rather than the other way round. On the other hand, I don’t know how common happy endings are, how long they last, how they’re defined or what they actually mean… In the case, say, of Marina, what sort of twist on her Sunday would constitute ‘a typical happy ending’? I don’t know… We’ve often wondered whether Marina suffers from depression. We’ve also wondered whether her behaviour reflects a large proportion of young people in our country. What would you say to us?I am sceptical about the ‘ease’ with which we conclude that someone is suffering from depression. I have the feeling, that is, that the verb ‘to suffer’, followed by a diagnosis, is a sign of the times we live in, and that it shuts people down rather than helping them to grow. What does, say, depression mean in Marina’s case? I prefer to describe her as a woman who surrenders to the allure of the melancholy that all Sundays inherently possess. If she suffers from anything, I imagine she suffers from the fact that she is alive... however paradoxical that may sound. In that sense, yes. She reflects a large proportion of young people, and of course those older in age, who are alive. What I don’t know is to what extent, both young people and older ones, we can bear to go with the flow that Marina is on, rather than sitting in front of a screen, idling or typing.What do you think is really missing from Marina to set her in motion, to pull her out of her sterile passivity? I wouldn’t for the life of me want to describe Marina’s passivity as sterile. I love her very much and I’d be doing her an injustice if I did. Marina’s ‘passivity’ harbours a whole host of things that will either help her grow or destroy her. I don’t know the outcome of this situation, although deep down I’d like the first scenario to come true, and I fear the second!How much did your studies in psychology help you in shaping Marina’s personality and the environment in which she moves? I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that question. I imagine that my studies in psychology helped in some way. But the reverse could also be true. I really enjoy observing people and describing them from within, and that is perhaps why I decided to study psychology. If I had to say what helped me most in writing this story, I’d say it was all the summers I’ve spent in the city, reading other people’s stories or watching them at the cinema.After Marina in the height of summer, what can we expect from you? Do you have any ideas swirling around in your mind to get you started on writing?I’m very drawn to the idea of parallel monologues that ‘respond’ to one another, without ever knowing or finding out about it. I have a feeling this idea will torment me more than the idea of Marina. Marina was extremely kind and generous towards me. Where can we meet you online and in person? I’d love to tell you that you’ll find me in bars and cafés in the city centre. Even more so that I’ll always be on the terrace of a summer cinema and/or in the dark auditorium of a winter one, waiting for the opening credits of a much-anticipated film... Most likely, however, you’ll find me on public transport to and from the city centre or see me walking around my neighbourhood, doing all those everyday chores that help families function...