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On the evening of Tuesday 23 May at the Pallas Theatre in central Athens, one of the most important events in the world of books took place: the presentation of the 2017 Public Book Awards!For the fourth consecutive year, readers expressed their preferences and selected their favourite books with more than 140,000 votes. Ikaros had the pleasure of receiving two awards:In the Contemporary Greek Poetry category, Kiki Dimoula’s latest poetry collection, ‘Anotelia’, was awarded.We would like to thank Kiki Dimoula very much for her excellent collaboration, her writings, her words, and her trust over all these years.  Katerina Karidi receives the award presented to Kiki Dimoula from Eleftheria Arvanitaki.In the Greek Novel category, the award went to Eftychia Giannaki’s book *In the Back Seat*. The book marked the launch of crime fiction at Ikaros, and we thank her warmly for her trust. Her second book, featuring Inspector Haris Kokkinos, *Alcyon Days*, is already at the printers and will be released in the coming days. Eftychia Giannaki receiving her award for Best Greek Novel. We would also like to extend our warmest thanks to all the readers who singled out these two books and honoured us with their votes. The evening was hosted by Odysseas Papaspiliopoulos, and Mariza Rizou provided musical accompaniment with wonderful retro tunes. A total of 160 publishing houses took part in the competitive section of the awards, 1,300 authors and 2,200 titles, of which a total of 13 books were awarded. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

The judging panels of the literary magazine Anagnostis announced today, 9 May, the shortlisted books for the magazine’s 2017 Literary Awards, the ceremony for which will take place on Tuesday 6 June at 8.00 pm at the Benaki Museum (138 Piraeus Street).We are delighted that Antonis Papatheodoulou’s hilarious fairy tale *Tick-Tock: Clocks, time for a lesson!* (illustrated by Myrto Delivoria), has been shortlisted in the ‘Illustrated Children’s Book’ category! Find out more about the Anagnostis Awards, as well as the full list of nominated books and authors, here. 

The first phase of voting for the 2017 Public Book Awards concluded with 148,949 votes, during which readers selected their favourite books from 9 different categories.Four books from Ikaros have been shortlisted among the best books of the year!See the nominations for our books (by category) along with the links for each one and vote for them as the top books of the year by Sunday 21 May! Greek novel:Eftychia Giannaki – In the Back Seat: http://bit.ly/StoPisoKathisma17 Greek short story:Dimitris Nollas – Stories Are Always Foreign: http://bit.ly/OiIstoriesEinaiPantaXenes17 Poetry:Kiki Dimoula – Semicolon: http://bit.ly/AnoTeleia17Κώστας Bournazakis – Faces and Trials: http://bit.ly/ProsopaKaiDokimasies17

Ikaros Publications is celebrating World Children’s Book Day 2017 (2 April) with the release of the fairy tale A Child Made of Books, a book that pays tribute to the power of children’s literature and storytelling, by the award-winning storyteller Oliver Jeffers and illustrator Sam Winston, translated by Filippos Mandilaras.“What we wanted from the outset was to create a story that would speak of our love for classic children’s literature in a modern way,” say the authors.The celebration of World Children’s Book Day each year is nothing less than an opportunity to realise the vital role that children’s reading plays at a young age, shaping children’s future character. A book dedicated to children’s literature is the ideal way to mark this day. A girl made of books sails in her raft across a sea of words until she reaches a boy’s house. She invites him to join her on an adventure in the world of stories, where anything can happen with the power of imagination.A Child of Books brilliantly combines Oliver Jeffers’ handwritten texts with Sam Winston’s distinctive visual elements, crafted from phrases taken from forty classic fairy tales. The result is a lavish edition that invites readers of all ages to discover, to wonder and, with imagination as their main weapon, to dream. After all, imagination belongs to everyone!  The creators talk about the creation and publication of the book:  Sketch from the cover design process REVIEWS‘The unique artistic collaboration between Jeffers and Winston, with its inventive combination of watercolour, pencil and digital collage, immediately captures the reader’s attention. Jeffers’ hand-drawn, asymmetrical text contrasts with Winston’s digital design lines, which incorporate passages from classic works of children’s literature... A brilliantly clever quest for literary delight.”Kirkus Reviews ‘...a fresh and exciting collaboration between two talented creators.’ The New York Times ‘Every element of the book—its captivating hand-drawn texts, the illustrations created with watercolour, pencil and digital collage, as well as the objects made from phrases from classic fairy tales—contribute to a lavish edition that is perfectly harmonious as a whole.”Booklist “Jeffers and illustrator Winston collaborate on a book that is a hymn to the power of imagination, in which distinctive pen-and-ink sketches meet objects crafted from the text of classic books... The power of the images leaps off the pages, because imagination belongs to everyone.” Publishers Weekly