Upcoming Releases | February – June 2018

Ikaros Publications has a number of significant books due to be released over the coming months. Read on for detailed information about the titles we plan to publish by summer 2018:GREEK POETRY Yannis Efthymiadis: Patrida Yannis Efthymiadis was born in 1969 in Piraeus. He studied classical literature and undertook postgraduate studies in ancient Greek drama. He has published five collections of poetry (Stigma, privately published 2004, Kainos Diaretis, Nefeli 2007, Letters to the Prince, Mikri Arktos 2010, 27 or The Man Who Falls, Mikri Arktos 2012, On Your Body, Little Bear 2014) and a literary essay (12 Conversations with Odysseas Elytis’s Monogram, Kalligraphos 2014). He has translated English and American poets. His poems have been included in Greek and international anthologies and have been translated into English, French and German, whilst the cycle of poems The Crystal of the World (Metronomos 2016) has been set to music and recorded. He works as a teacher, has published literature textbooks for secondary education, and is a contributor to literary publications, both print and online, and magazines. Thanos Stathopoulos: The Hour Prose texts, notes, quotations, traces, readings, references, observations, fragments on the poetics of space, space as a laboratory, architectural space and the spiritual centre.In his seventh book, Thanos Stathopoulos emphasises the poetics of space, alluding to what we might call ‘architectural space’, that is, the realm in which human expression takes place and which is defined by the body, actions, habitation, memory, time, signs, form and the psychic centre. Reality is recognised through the dream, and the text is understood as an erotic event. Time stands at the centre of things. Yannis Psychopedis: At the bottom of dreams. Images from Andreas Embeirikos’s Octana. Visual artist Yannis Psychopedis draws inspiration from Octana, one of the finest works of Greek literature, and presents a volume featuring 39 paintings and selected excerpts from the work.The works included in the publication will be exhibited at the Zoumboulakis Gallery from 27 to 31 March 2018.  GREEK PROSE Eftychia Giannaki: City in the LightA pregnant woman, a former model, is brutally murdered in her detached house in Kavouri. Inspector Haris Kokkinos and his team take on the task of solving a crime that brings them face to face with dashed expectations, doping rings in sport and a cycle of violence that begins in Serbia in 1995 and ends in Athens in 2014. At the same time, the son of the forty-five-year-old police inspector stands trial on charges that test his resilience, as he seeks to come to terms with his own responsibility for the mistakes of the past.In this case, everyone is a suspect, and the interrogations bring to light a city that is turning into a closed room. The question that arises is how far you can go when you have nothing left to lose. When you realise that hope is not the last thing to die.The story is the third part of the Athens Trilogy and would not exist were it not for the city, its light and its darkness. Lina Rokou: The End of HungerThis is the first book by journalist Lina Rokou. ‘‘I’ll sell you my spleen,’ says Emma to San, and so begins a chain of strange transactions between the young unemployed woman and the eccentric junk dealer who is interested not in washing machines but in the woman’s diaries and love letters, which she invites him to read at her home. Whilst he buys more pieces of her body, she reveals to him the peculiar relationship she had developed with L.R. and how the latter wanted to rebuild her body. How do you deconstruct the other to reach their core? Can you buy his wits, and at what price? Can a lollipop serve as monetary compensation? Are there flying plants? How is a heart sold? Have you read pages from Mr P.’s diary? Has an apple ever got stuck in your throat? DIARYGeorge Seferis: Days H & Days IEdited by: Katerina Krikou-DavisThe last two volumes of George Seferis’s personal diary.These are two voluminous books which, in addition to Giorgos 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 parallels with the poet’s other works.The Days H span from January 1961 to December 1963. They cover the final months of Seferis’s tenure as Ambassador to Great Britain and extend to his return to Greece and the announcement of the Nobel Prize.The Days X begin in February 1964 and the last entry is in May 1971, a period that also includes the imposition of the junta in Greece.The long-awaited two volumes, H and I, complete George Seferis’s diaries, covering the last decade of his life. PSYCHOLOGY - BOOKS FOR PARENTS Athanasios Alexandridis: School for Anxious Parents: Children’s FearsIn the second book of the ‘School for Anxious Parents’ series, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Athanasios Alexandridis returns with yet another important issue that concerns the majority of parents: that of childhood fears. The material in the book, like that in the first volume of the series, Childhood Loves (Ikaros, 2017), was compiled from transcribed recordings of evening discussions and lectures given by Athanasios Alexandridis to the parents of pupils at the Argyris-Laios Primary School.The strong need of parents to express and discuss a range of issues relating to their children’s development, intra-family relationships and the children’s connection with school and the social environment forms the backdrop to these meetings.The family is a constantly changing space of potential conflict, both between the forces of love and those of aggression within each of its members, and between the family as a whole and the external reality. It is through this lens that the discussions take place; it is with this psychodynamic psychoanalytic perspective that the answers are defined. FOREIGN PROSE Sebastian Barry (Ireland): Days without endTranslation: Maria Angelidou Irish author Sebastian Barry returns with a compelling novel set in America in the mid-19th century: a powerful story of two men living through some of the most critical moments in American history.Having enlisted in the US Army in the 1850s, at the age of just seventeen, Thomas McNulty and his comrade-in-arms John Cole fight in the Indian Wars and subsequently in the American Civil War. Orphans, both having endured terrible hardships, and despite the atrocities they witness, they find their days filled with light and vitality. Then, a young Native American girl crosses their path and the possibility of happiness seems within reach, provided they can survive.Spanning the plains of the West to Tennessee, Sebastian Barry’s latest book is a masterpiece of atmosphere and language that challenges us to consider that perhaps a bitter life is worth living if it contains moments of scattered happiness.The book was honoured with the 2016 Costa Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Walter Scott Prize, and was also longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, the 2017 HWA Endeavour Ink Gold Crown and the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction.In February 2018, Sebastian Barry was honoured with the highest distinction in Irish literature (Laureate for Irish Fiction). Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria): The Physics of SorrowTranslation: Alexandra IoannidouHaving been shortlisted for the Strega Europeo (Rome, 2014) and Gregor von Rezzori (Florence, 2014) and honoured with every literary prize in Bulgaria, the novel The Physics of Sorrow ranks Georgi Gospodinov among Europe’s most inventive and daring writers.Using the myth of the Minotaur as his central image, the book’s narrator (the author’s alter ego) constructs a labyrinth of stories about his family, jumping between different eras and perspectives, exploring the mindset and dead ends of Eastern Europeans.An incredibly moving yet humorous book about human anxieties, empathy and its loss, which sheds light on issues such as abandonment and isolation. Its original structure and stunning narrative captivated international critics, who hailed it as one of the finest European postmodern novels. Fabio Stassi (Italy): The Missing Reader (La lettrice scomparsa)Translation: Dimitra DotsiIn Fabio Stassi’s captivating novel, books end up serving as remedies, medicines, and even investigative tools for solving a crime.A highly literary character, Vince Corso, is born of his mother’s fleeting affair with a traveller, and his only inheritance from his father is three books left behind in his room before he left.Influenced by this, and having read extensively throughout his life, he is now convinced that literature is a strange lie, capable of manipulating life... To survive, he invents bibliotherapy, through which he recommends notable books as medicine to people who describe their mental or physical ailments to him.When he discovers one day that his neighbour has disappeared, and that her husband is accused of murder, he begins to study the woman through the books she read, which a solitary bookseller had recorded in his archives. He is convinced that, through her death, the woman has written a story that only he can decipher.Perhaps the truth that emerges from this investigation is a bittersweet victory for literature, allowing us to wander through the magical labyrinth of writing. Marina Tsvetaeva (Russia): My Pushkin (Мой Пушкин)Translation: Fotis LambrinosIn this book by the popular Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941), My Pushkin, the author blends narrative, autobiography and poetic prose with great interest, in a unique quest to discover literature and its ability to transform reality.Marina Tsvetaeva sketches the Pushkin of her childhood, her secret readings, her journey and her encounter with the great poet. Alejandro Zambra (Chile): Skills Test (Facsimile)Translation: Achilleas KyriakidisTo say that Skills Test is a novel is just as risky as saying it isn’t. Perhaps it is better simply to say that it is a book by Alejandro Zambra, because the style and themes that have made him a significant voice in Latin American literature unfold here in a substantial and intense manner.Taking as his starting point the structure of the university entrance examination system implemented in Chile from 1967 to 2002, the author creates an unexpected work in which stories coexist with literary excerpts and linguistic exercises that are, in essence, moral dilemmas: the need to lie in order to be validated by others, the desire to form bonds despite mistrust in love and family, the difficulty of navigating a minefield of secrets, the desperate conviction that, instead of learning to think, we have been trained to obey and repeat. CHILDREN’S BOOKS Series: ShipsMaria Angelidou – Antonis PapatheodoulouIllustrations: Christos KourtoglouAges: 7 years and upReal and imaginary ships, from mythology and literature, from ancient and recent history, invite us to set sail with them on a journey through space and time, a journey where everything can be told as a maritime tale.The creators of the ‘Ships’ book series are back with two new titles: Ships that played with fire When a ship sinks, how is it that the fire it carried in its hold remains on the surface… and does not go out? What will become of Sam, the apprentice riverboat pilot, when he grows up? How many ships were burned for the sake of a single pirate island? How many years could it endure in utter darkness, the Sun’s own ship?    Ships that carried curiosityWhy does Calypso like to sit upside down, with the keel up and the bridge in the water? Which ship was it that held the most insatiable of all the world’s curiosities? Are there, I wonder, ancient ships… brand new? Which ship was it that made Megalexandros weep? And why? How far did the Vasa, the pride of the royal fleet, intend to go with its bold long-range voyage?   The first two books in the series (Ships That Were Not Afraid and Ships That Carried the Imagination) have been recognised by the Greek Children’s Book Circle and have been included in the international White Ravens list. Benji Davies: The GrotlynTranslation: Antonis PapatheodoulouAges: from 4 years oldA uniquely illustrated book full of mystery and suspense from the award-winning creator of The Boy Who Saw the Whale, Grandad’s Island, and the Little Bear series. What is the mysterious Grotlyn? What sort of creature is this that roams the town, terrifying everyone in its path?  Grotlin comes to your house at night, wandering in the darkness… But be careful, don’t get confused!The eye sees whatever you think. In his long-awaited book, Benji Davies presents an atmospheric story with rhymes and many characters that will confirm, in the most subversive way, the saying that ‘appearances can be deceiving’... Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler: The Ugly FiveTranslation: Filippos MandilarasAges: from 3 years oldInspired by the ‘ugly five’, as these – not so well-known – African animals are called, this brand-new book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is a wonderful read for those who feel unloved because of their appearance.The funny, enthusiastic rhymes of the text are ideal for reading aloud, whilst the illustrations bring the impressive savannah to life before every reader’s eyes.Ikaros has also published the following books by the two creators: Zog, The Scarecrows’ Wedding, and The Little Woodpecker, whilst Axel Scheffler has published the successful series of books Tick and Tella. 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...