Category: Reading Greece

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Reading Greece

Reading Greece

Reading Greece is a series of interviews featuring Greek writers and other stakeholders of the Greek

23 hours ago

Reading Greece
Distinguished Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos died today at the age of 89.Vassilis Vassilikos was a prolific Greek #writer and #diplomat. He was born in Kavala to parents native to the island of Thasos. His father was an MP with the Liberal Party. He grew up in Thessaloniki, graduated from law school there, and moved to Athens to work as a journalist. Because of his political activities, he was forced into exile for seven years, following the coup of 1967. From 1981 to 1984, Vassilikos served as the director of the Greek state television channel (ET1). Since 1996, he has served as Greece's ambassador to UNESCO. In the 2019 Greek legislative election, he was elected MP with Syriza. As an author, Vassilikos has been highly prolific and widely-translated. He has published more than 100 books, including #novels, plays and #poetry. His best known work is the political novel Z (1967), which has been translated into thirty-two languages and was the basis of the award-winning film Z directed by Costa-Gavras (with music by Mikis Theodorakis).Z was published in Greece in 1966, and banned there one year later. It is based on an actual political assassination in 1963 in Salonika. The victim was Gregory Lambrakis, a socialist legislator and outspoken critic of the government. But Lambrakis’s killers could not have anticipated the public response. His funeral became a political event; by the time the cortege reached Athens, 400,000 people were following the coffin in silence. In the nation’s capital, the letter Z suddenly appeared on walls, sidewalks, posters–everywhere. Z stands for the Greek verb zei, “he lives.” ... See MoreSee Less
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