News

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.

There are moments ―often― when we need some good news to fill us with inspiration and strength to carry on. The excellent initiative by the 2nd All-Day Nursery School of Potamia, Thasos, to publish a digital version of the annual magazine “Shall We Play with a Book?”, which is dedicated to children’s books, is one such piece of optimistic news!The children’s participation, as well as the editorial supervision by their nursery teacher Vicky Xanthopoulou, were crucial to the second issue. Such important initiatives by inspired teachers deserve great recognition from our society, as they are capable of passing on the inspiration and creativity that children need. Well done, then! The brand-new issue includes the drawings by Birgitta Sif that the author sent to the nursery school along with Oliver’s dolls, so that the children could use them in their activities and learn that it is wonderful to feel different.Thodoris Papaioannou introduced the children to ‘Apenanti’, the new story of Melios, who faces a huge challenge: crossing a busy road full of traffic and cars! Together with the author, the children learnt how Melios managed it and captured it on the pages of the magazine! The issue also includes reviews of the books: The Little Pigs of Happiness (Ioanna Babeta, illustrated by Rania Varvaki), Nikiforos Discovers Emotions, Guided by Cycladic Figurines (Eleni Geroulanou, illustrated by Filippos Fotiadis), From Earth to the Moon, or the Cannon of Peace (Antonis Papatheodoulou, illustrated by Iris Samartzi), Megapolis (Dieudonné Cléa), The Good and the Bad Witches (Antonis Papatheodoulou, illustrated by Iris Samartzi) and The Island Across the Way (Eleni Georgostathi, illustrations: Eliza Vavouri). The front and back covers were designed by Myrto Delivoria, who always takes us on a journey with her images!You can enjoy reading the digital magazine together with your children here. And who knows, by the time they’ve finished reading it, they might be so inspired that they’ll want to publish their own magazine too!