📚📚On the occasion of the publication of her first short story collection in Greek "The ones that stayed behind" (Εκδόσεις Πόλις, 2024), speculative fiction writer Atalanti Evripidou spoke to Reading Greece about the book, heavily inspired by Greek history and folklore, and the way speculative fiction helps us reimagine reality.

"Reimagining reality is what writers do best, particularly writers of speculative fiction: we speculate. We look at what is and consider what could be. I’ve always been of the opinion that what sets artists apart is that we’re able to see the wounds in the world and we’re filled with a deep need to heal them. We do that by sharing our vision of the reality, hoping that, if enough readers get it, we could actually change the world. Literature isn’t simply the telling of stories to achieve aesthetic pleasure. It is also an act of defiance and a challenge. An invitation, if you will, to consider and work towards a different reality – a better reality".

The Athens Epidaurus Festival turns 70!
107+ productions, 3,000+ artists, 14 venues, 95 days of art & culture.
A bold season celebrating creativity for all audiences.
#AEF2025 #AthensFestival #Epidaurus

🎭 Different voices, one stage.

Refugee teens and local youth come together to transform Schubert’s Winterreise into a powerful, contemporary musical theatre performance.

Greek National Opera's 𝐂𝐨-𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, the first intercultural youth opera hub in Europe, presents (𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓) 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑱𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚— inspired by Franz Schubert’s emblematic song cycle Winterreise.

The performance will feature a mixed group of Athenian teenagers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors who were involved in the educational program, alongside the GNO Intercultural Choir.

Through Panos Iliopoulos musical adaptation and Vasilis Vilaras’ directorial eye, the performance portrays the inner journey of adolescence, engaging in a conversation with universal questions: fear, loneliness, hope, loss, first loves, and change.

🎼The intercultural opera hub for teenagers, Co-OPERAtive, is part of GNO Learning & Participation - Εκπαιδευτικές & Κοινωνικές Δράσεις ΕΛΣ - along with the Intercultural Orchestra and the Intercultural Choir.

#greeknationalopera #cooperative #InterculturalLearning