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Eftychia Giannaki, author of the new crime novel In the Back Seat, due to be published in June by Ikaros Publications, introduces herself to us with a text full of reflections on the writing of crime fiction. She describes her own relationship with writing and shares her view on the influence of the evolution of Western society on the flourishing of this particular literary genre.I think I was twenty when, following an accident, I realised that all my organs are perishable. Until then, I had no physical sense of myself. When I confessed how much this realisation had unsettled me to a nurse who struck up a conversation with me during my hospital stay, she reassured me that, generally speaking, there is nothing in me that is not mortal, and she gave me many examples of patients around me who were preparing to prove the mortality of the matter, whilst I was temporarily safe.Since then I have been writing because, among the few things I am capable of, writing always acts like that reassuring nurse who reminds me of the words of E.A. Poe, that fear, and particularly the fear of death, is an emotion that people like to feel when they are certain they are safe.As I write these lines, a lady is sitting next to me enjoying a cold chocolate. She even asked for a bar of chocolate, which she’s been nibbling at for some time now. Chocolate with chocolate, then. A short while ago, a group sat down amongst us, talking about a crime, about a car that had run over, killed and abandoned an acquaintance of theirs who was riding a motorbike. The group, despite the grim tale, ordered coffees, and the lady who heard it all didn’t feel her enjoyment of a large bite of cake diminished in the slightest once the account of the events had finished.What am I getting at? A detective story is precisely this kind of narrative within our everyday lives, a mirror reflecting what we avoid seeing just before we turn back to our pleasant habits. Many wonder whether such a narrative carries any particular weight. I agree with those who believe that this narrative has value, particularly as it has evolved in recent years, reflecting the social and psychological implications of the story in question.Antiquity lived with the hope of overcoming pain and death, with Epicurus going so far as to say that death does not exist for us. Christianity proceeded with its glorification of it, and the Western world in recent decades with its denial of it. In Europe during the second half of the twentieth century, euphoria and excessive optimism were cultivated through images that erased the public expression of pain and, even more so, of death. Were it not for the recent economic turmoil and terrorism, we would undoubtedly be talking mainly about the weather.It is no coincidence, then, that crime fiction—and more recently crime series and films—has flourished, particularly in countries where euphoria has long prevailed. It stems from the need to cast our eyes upon what is concealed.The past, the shared secret, the cover-up, the violence that goes round in circles, the superficiality, the simplicity of everyday things, even humour in the face of the abhorrent, the huge bite of a chocolate bar after a painful narrative, the city’s inhabitants, their conversations, and Athens as a microcosm of the artificial euphoria of a few years and a subsequent resounding fall—these are the themes that preoccupy me in my first crime novel.Now, as I write these lines, I realise that when the accident I began with happened, I was sitting in the back seat. Perhaps if it hadn’t happened, this story wouldn’t exist. Since then, I’ve enjoyed creating situations of fear so that I don’t feel afraid; that is the pleasure of the crime novel. And that pleasure is the same whether you’re writing it or reading it.Brief biography: Eftychia Giannaki was born and raised in Athens. She studied computer science, music technology and communication, and worked for several years in secondary education. In the past, another of her novels, entitled Hardcore, was published under a pseudonym and adapted for the cinema. You can find out more about her at www.giannaki.com 

So many books and studies have been written about the legend of world literature, Gabriel García Márquez, that his life has been transformed into multiple lives on paper.His name is associated with the most classic novels, *One Hundred Years of Solitude* and *Love in the Time of Cholera*, as well as with Magic Realism, defined as a literary genre that he himself established.GAMBO: Gabriel García Márquez, Memories of a Magical Life is the first graphic novel about the life of the popular Colombian author and has just been published in a translation by Kliti Sotiadou, who has also translated most of Márquez’s work into Greek. His devoted readers will be able to discover aspects of his life that until now were not particularly well known to the general public, such as the difficulties he faced before establishing himself, as well as how he handled his inspiration.Gabo — as his friends and admirers called him — was born in Aracataca, a village 160 km east of Cartagena, Colombia, on 6 March 1927. From his childhood in this village, he drew inspiration for his entire literary oeuvre. Macondo, the famous fictional village where the plot of his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude unfolds, is a reference to Aracataca.In his book *Los Nuestros* (Our People), Luis Harss, in presenting the birth of the movement that became known as the ‘Latin American Boom’, describes Gabriel García Márquez as ‘a man who can be shipwrecked without drowning’.This book aims to bring the reader closer to the life and work of García Márquez in the form of a graphic novel, tracing the epic journey that transformed the young man from Aracataca into a literary legend.Four key contributors collaborated on the book: Óscar Pantoja (scriptwriter and author), Miguel Bustos (illustrator and comic artist), Felipe Camargo Rojas (a graduate in fine arts from the Javeriana University in Bogotá) and Tatiana Córdoba (a visual artist from Bogotá). Start reading an excerpt from the book here.

On the evening of Tuesday 24 May at the Pallas Theatre in central Athens, one of the most special events in the world of books took place: the annual Public Book Awards.Apenanti, the illustrated book by Thodoris Papaioannou and Iris Samartzi, won one of the two special Public Bookshop Awards! For this award, Public bookshop staff vote from among all books in the Children’s Book category. Ikaros entered the children’s book market in 2012. So, the fact that we have already won the hearts of booksellers who come into contact with countless books every day gives us great joy.We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Thodoris Papaioannou for the sweet story of Melios, the beetle so beloved by readers, as well as Iris Samartzi for her wonderful illustrations, and Orestis Papaioannou for the original music accompanying the book. The evening was presented by Odysseas Papaspiliopoulos, and the Camerata – Friends of Music Orchestra, conducted by Giorgos Petrou, provided the musical backdrop with unexpected arrangements of popular pieces. A total of 150 publishing houses took part in the awards’ competition section, 1,300 authors and 2,000 book titles, of which a total of 14 books were awarded prizes. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

The judging panels of the literary magazine Anagnostis announced today, 17 May, the shortlisted books for the magazine’s Literary Awards, the ceremony for which will take place on Monday 13 June at the Benaki Museum.We were delighted to see two of our books included among the nominees in two of the ten award categories: Dimitris Nollas’s novel *Marbles in the Middle*, the second part of his trilogy *Hard Times* (category: Novel), and Alexis Kyritsopoulos’s children’s book *Pigainela sta synnefa* – a fairy tale inspired by the poems of Giorgos Sarantaris (category:Children’s Book with Illustrations)! Find out more about the Reader’s Choice Awards, as well as the full list of nominated books and authors, here.