Kalamata has received a major international distinction, as the mural by visual artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos, depicting Maria Callas on the central Aristomenous Street, was named the best in the world for 2025 by the international institution Street Art Cities. The artwork adorns the city center and has already become a landmark for residents and visitors alike. Through a dynamic artistic approach, the image of the great opera diva Maria Callas is brought to life in a public space, linking street art with contemporary Greek culture.

According to Street Art Cities, “Kalamata just made street art history. @kle_omenis monumental Maria Callas mural has been voted Street Art Cities Best Of 2025, making it the first Greek winner ever. For artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos, this work is a living narrative about place, memory, and cultural continuity.” “Callas isn’t a commemorative portrait, but a symbolic presence, a body carrying culture between past and present,” he says. Nature, roots, fruit, birds: symbols of identity born from the land and the people who inhabit it. The public response was overwhelming. “When a work in public space is embraced like this, you realise it no longer belongs to you, but to the people who live with it,” KLE shares”.

 (Source: Street Art Cities)

“Street Art Cities felt that power too: “Seeing Greece rally behind this mural was incredible. The passion and pride showed how strong the collective voice can be. We will soon visit to hand the award and see this monumental mural in person" shares Tiny Tim one of the co-founders. For KLE, the win is “a moment of gratitude, not a finish line, but motivation to keep working with responsibility toward the public space.” For Kalamata, it’s a reminder that cities can engage with contemporary culture without losing themselves. A mural rooted in place. A community that showed up. A historic first for Greece.” 

(Source: Kleomenis Kostopoulos)

Speaking earlier to Athens-Macedonian News Agency, the creator of the mural, Kleomenis Kostopoulos noted: “The Street Art Cities platform manages around 80,000–85,000 murals worldwide, across approximately 2,000 cities. They approached me and asked whether I would like my work to participate in the competition that selects the best mural of each month, for November”. The public vote did indeed select the work ‘Kalamata’ as the best mural of November 2025, which automatically qualified it as a nominee for the best artwork of the year.

Mural by Kleomenis Kostopoulos in Patras (2022), commemorating the Greek Righteous Among the Nations and the rescue of the Jews of Zakynthos. The mural depicts the Mayor of Zakynthos, Loukas Karrer, the Metropolitan of Zakynthos, Chrysostomos, and Hermandos Mordos with his wife Eftychia and their four children, Rebecca (Becky), Samuel, Moses, and Nina (Source: The Jewish Community of Athens)

The artist himself did not begin in street art. “I am a visual artist and painter,” he says, describing a path that included studies in Athens, nearly a decade in Germany, and ultimately a return to his hometown of Patras. There, as he explains, he felt the need to activate the contemporary cultural landscape in a city and a country which, as he puts it, “have unfortunately been in decline in recent years and are at a very critical point.”

Murals of ArtWalk in Patras: “IN CHAOS FIND JOY” by SOTEUR & The Flying Dolphins, Korinthou 406, Patras 2023(upper left), “Another Bad Hair Day” by D*Face, Korinthou 50, Patras 2022(upper right), “A New Dionysus” by Mon Devane, Skagiopouliou 32, Patras 2022 (lower left), “Jacob’s ladder” by Leonidas Giannakopoulos, Evdimou 4, Patras 2022(lower right)

This need gave rise to Art in Progress, the non-profit organization he founded, as well as a series of international festivals: Re-culture and later ArtWalk, an international mural festival that is currently in the process of holding its 11^th edition. “We have completed 78 large-scale murals in Patras. It may be one of the most recognized festivals in Europe and beyond,” he notes. Through this process came his personal engagement with art in public space. “I was never a street artist. Through the festival, I observed how my fellow artists created these ‘magical’ works on such large scales. That’s how my own involvement with murals began, in 2018,” he explains.

 (Source: Kleomenis Kostopoulos)

“Kalamata was a special case. The work emerged after many discussions with the Municipality, in a city that—according to the artist—was attempting such a central intervention in public space for the first time. “Out of absolute respect for public space, and for the fact that the city was entering the process of acquiring its first mural in such a central location, I wanted to engage with the very face of the city. To depict Kalamata itself,” explains Kleomenis Kostopoulos. “Thus, the choice of Maria Callas was not intended as a tribute to her person, but as a symbolic vehicle. Kalamata had to be a female figure. And because it is an outward-looking city, with tourism and an international audience that visits it, I felt that Callas—also due to a distant ancestral connection—could function as a representative figure,” he notes.

Working during the implementation of the project (Source: urbanjoy.gr)

Although the work was initially “misinterpreted” as a simple portrait, the artist clarifies that “this is not a portrait of Callas, but a portrait of Kalamata.” The mural is, in fact, filled with multi-layered symbolism: life and death, roots and evolution, natural wealth and human loss. On the seabed, for example, the businessman Papadimitriou is depicted swimming—an individual who linked his name to the city’s local products and passed away prematurely. “That’s what is beautiful about art in public space,” he says, explaining that the building itself is experientially connected to this story, as it was where the businessman once lived.

The trees behind the figure lack dense foliage, alluding to a “tragic element,” while the birds—from those with melodious songs to the crow—complete the cycle of life. Even the choice of the photograph of Callas is deliberately “more human, more worn,” far removed from the stylized images of the diva. Finally, the dress functions as a reference to agricultural products and the productive identity of the region.

Working during the implementation of the project. Photo: Dimitris Neofotistos/Street Art: KLE (Source: urbanjoy.gr)

The realization of the project was anything but easy. It began in late October 2025, with weather conditions forcing interruptions due to rainfall, and was ultimately completed in November 2025. Shortly afterward came the international recognition, and “Kalamata” is now competing in the major vote for the best artwork of 2025, facing cities and countries with long traditions in street art and significant international reach. However, the message conveyed by the artist goes beyond personal distinction, serving as evidence of the dynamism of contemporary Greek art.

Street art in Greece is a vibrant formof expression. Especially in cities like Athens and Thessaloniki, murals and graffiti reflect themes such as history, identity, and everyday urban life. Influenced by both local traditions and international movements, Greek street art has transformed public spaces into open-air galleries and has become an important voice for contemporary social commentary.

The Street Art Cities platform lists 574 street art masterpieces in Athens: https://streetartcities.com/cities/athens

Read also:

Kalamata International Dance Festival Unveils its Bold New Vision

I.A.

The post Kalamata Made Street Art History! appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

Dr. Stella Tsani, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Athens, has been named this year’s winner in the Woman in Energy category of the European Sustainable Energy Awards (EUSEW Awards). These awards honor exceptional individuals and projects for their innovation and commitment to energy efficiency and renewable energy. The Woman in Energy Award specifically recognizes women who lead outstanding initiatives that can accelerate the clean energy transition across Europe. It also highlights efforts to promote gender mainstreaming and advance equality and equal opportunities within the energy sector.

Dr Stella Tsani is known for her commitment to using facts to guide policy and support fair energy change. Her research connects economics and sustainability, helping governments in Europe and the Mediterranean create energy systems that meet climate goals.  Beyond her academic work, Dr Tsani is also a passionate mentor, particularly for young women in the energy field. Her advocacy shows that the clean energy transition is not only smart and strategic but also inclusive and future focused. 

Often seen as elite ivory towers, academic institutions may hold the answers to some of the key socio-political questions facing Greece and the wider European region. Can economic analysis deliver solutions to the country’s challenges around sustainable energy? As an academic, Stella Tsani is bridging research and action around energy and the environment, driven by a deep curiosity about how economies function and how economic choices impact society and the environment:

'One of our main challenges in the clean energy transition is how to align economic systems with sustainable, low-carbon energy practices,' she explains. 'My work investigates energy policies that provide incentives for sustainable investment and bring renewable energy into existing markets without disrupting economies or communities.'

Connecting scientific research with evidence-based policy making

In order to bridge theory with practice, Dr. Tsani's aim was to combine rigorous academic research in the clean energy transition and sustainable development with high-level policy engagement – including with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr Tsani also chose to engage in systematic work on energy transition and sustainable development as co-lead of the Sustainable Development Goals Working Group of the  Global Young Academy, an international society of young scientists selected for their scientific excellence and commitment to engage with society.

Her work has contributed to practical advances by shaping evidence-based policy recommendations, fostering multi-sector collaboration, and supporting the financial mechanisms needed to drive sustainable energy transitions. Contribution to UNEP flagship initiatives and publications, for example, “will directly influence Mediterranean countries, including Greece, to adopt more sustainable ocean and coastal management practices that intersect with energy policy”. 

'Additionally, my work in clean energy policies and energy scenarios in Greece, Europe and beyond, provides countries with actionable guidelines to improve their clean energy strategies, ensuring both economic growth and environmental protection.'

Generations of sustainability leaders

In a traditionally male-dominated sector, Dr Tsani empowers her female students and is thrilled to see them  thrive when they are given the opportunity to set up networks and identify solutions for sustainable energy: 'What I find most inspiring are qualities such as resilience, intellectual courage, empathy, imagination and the ability to communicate complex ideas in ways that can mobilise action.'

She is passionate about education: 'Empowering the new generation is at the heart of my work. They are the future leaders, innovators, and decision-makers who will carry forward the challenges and opportunities of the clean energy transition… By providing guidance, I aim to inspire the next wave of female scientists, policy leaders, and entrepreneurs in the clean energy sector,' she says.

Dr Tsani believes her work on youth empowerment is highly replicable across different European regions, driving the EU’s climate ambitions: 'By empowering communities, fostering innovation, and promoting the incentives that ensure sustainable energy investments, we can drive the EU closer to its ambitious energy and climate goals.'

Stella Tsani's academic and professional profile

Stella Tsani is Associate Professor of Economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with expertise in sustainable development, energy, natural resource management, and economic policy. Her work operates at the critical intersection of science and policy, where she regularly contributes to high-level international initiatives.

She is a lead author for the 7th Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7), the flagship environmental assessment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), focusing on the economic and financial transformations essential for a global sustainability transition. Dr. Tsani also serves on the Board of Directors of  the Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Institutes of Economic Sciences and is a permanent member of the MED 2050 foresight group.

Her international contributions include membership in the UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan Working Group on Ocean Economy and Sustainable Finance, and expert involvement in shaping the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the Water4All  partnership. She was also an expert contributor to  International Science Council delegation to the UN2023 Water Conference and its related policy brief.

Futhermore, Dr. Tsani is the lead editor of the Handbook of Sustainable Politics and Economics of Natural Resources, and she is a proud member of both the STEM Women global network and of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Dr. Tsani is investing heavily in the next generation of energy professionals, especially young women, leading the GY-Energy (Generation Youth Energy) network, an initiative hosted by the Department of Economics at the University of Athens. Established as part of the undergraduate Energy and Resource Economics course she teaches, GY-Energy promotes awareness, representation, and participation of students at all levels in energy and resource management policymaking—at national, regional, European, and global levels.

EUSEW Awards ​celebrate Europe’s best clean energy projects and leaders 

Stella Tsani was one of three finalists shortlisted for the European Sustainable Energy Awards 2025 ​(EUSEW Awards) in the Woman in Energy category. The award recognizes women who lead outstanding activities that, if replicated, help to advance the clean energy transition in Europe. Particular attention is placed on efforts to drive the gender mainstreaming agenda and support equality and equal opportunities in the energy sector. The other finalists were Sophie Loots from Belgium, and Carmen Sánchez-Guevara from Spain. Sophie Loots is a champion of grassroots energy cooperatives in Flanders. Carmen Sánchez-Guevara is driving efforts to tackle the critical issue of summer energy poverty.

The European Sustainable Energy Awards highlight achievements that contribute to the EU’s Green Deal objectives and encourage others to adopt best practices in building a sustainable energy future. The nine award finalists have been selected by a high-level jury in three categories: Innovation, Local Energy Action and Woman in Energy and are submitted  an online public vote.

The  winners were announced on June 10 at  the EUSEW Awards Ceremony, taking place during European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), the​ biggest annual event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe, this year with  the theme of ‘Powering a fair and competitive green transition. The event brings together public authorities, industry, NGOs and consumers to promote initiatives accelerating decarbonisation through clean technologies and solutions towards a competitive, fair and just transition both for people and businesses.

I.L.

The post University of Athens Professor Dr. Tsani Wins EU Award for “Woman in Energy” appeared first on Greek News Agenda.

The winner of the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2025 is Sasha Dugdale for The Strongbox (Carcanet 2024). 

Announcing the result of this year’s competition on Friday 13 June at a ceremony in the Great Hall of King’s College London, in the presence of a large audience in the hall and online, Sofka Zinovieff, the chair of judges, said: “I am delighted that The Strongbox has won the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award for 2025. We had a remarkable shortlist this year, which made the judges' decision particularly difficult, but Sasha Dugdale is an outstanding winner.  The Strongbox is an extraordinary collection of poetry. It shows how the rich inheritance of ancient Greek myth and literature continues to inspire the creation of outstanding works of art in the 21st century.”

 The winner of the Award, poet, playwright, and translator Sasha Dugdale, said:  I’m deeply honoured to be awarded the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award and very grateful to the judges for their appreciation of The Strongbox. My work is a poetic response to the wars and political tensions of the last years and it was shaped by my own experience of translating testimony relating to war and repression. In The Strongbox I considered how Greek mythologies are dynamic and still shape our perception of civilisation and culture, of war and difference. I used those mythologies to explore the effects and implications of the very modern tragedies we were witnessing.  This recognition by the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award is incredibly gratifying.”

 The Chair of the Council of the League, Kevin Featherstone, said: “Sasha Dugdale's The Strongbox is an extraordinary work and worthy member of the distinguished roster of Runciman Award winners. The Council of the Anglo-Hellenic League would like to extend its warmest congratulations to Sasha and to thank our generous sponsors: the A.G. Leventis Foundation and the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation.”

The judging panel for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award, had agreed on a total of six books for their shortlist for the competition in 2025. Sofka Zinovieff, the chair of judges, said: “The long list this year was exceptional in both range and quality, and we were able to select a very strong shortlist which highlights the enduring quality and vibrancy of writing in English on Greek history, culture and literature. The chosen works embrace truly innovative history and ground-breaking creative writing in both prose and poetry. Together they represent an outstanding literary contribution.”

The shortlist for 2025 was as follows:

Sasha Dugdale: The Strongbox (Carcanet)

The Strongbox opens with the abduction of a woman to a foreign land and ends with the Rape of Europa.  Drawing in elements of Greek mythology, epic literature and recent history, this protean work gives shape to a cast of characters both ancient and modern, as they flit in and out of tales, their voices overlapping and interacting. An unnamed girl is persuaded to leave behind her country and her childhood and travel to a warzone. Helen of Sparta, already trapped behind the walls of Ilium, is plagued by dreams about the coming conflict. Gods continue their manipulations, while mortals persist in defying the will of their gods. Through a series of interconnected scenes and dialogues this singular work traces the role of myth in shaping our accounts of both history and contemporary events.

Poet, playwright, and translator Sasha Dugdale was born in Sussex, England. She has worked as a consultant for theater companies in addition to writing her own plays. From 1995 to 2000, she worked for the British Council in Russia. She is author of the poetry collections Deformations (2020), Joy (2017), winner of the 2017 Poetry Book Society Winter Choice Award; Red House (2011); The Estate (2007); and Notebook (2003). In The Poetry Review, Claire Crowther praised Joy: “These compelling stories of strange happenings in an almost imperceptibly strange style make your mind understand foreignness as our process. Sasha Dugdale is a wise bard and her book is a civilising read.” Dugdale’s honors include the SOA Cholmondeley Award and the 2016 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (for “Joy”).

Pat Barker:  The Voyage Home (Penguin Hamish Hamilton)

After ten blood-filled years, the war is over. Troy lies in smoking ruins as the victorious Greeks fill their ships with the spoils of battle. Alongside the treasures looted are the many Trojan women captured by the Greeks – among them the legendary prophetess Cassandra, and her watchful maid, Ritsa. Enslaved as concubine – war-wife – to King Agamemnon, Cassandra is plagued by visions of his death – and her own – while Ritsa is forced to bear witness to both Cassandra’s frenzies and the horrors to come.

Meanwhile, awaiting the fleet’s return is Queen Clytemnestra, vengeful wife of Agamemnon. Heart-shattered by her husband’s choice to sacrifice their eldest daughter to the gods in exchange for a fair wind to Troy, she has spent this long decade plotting retribution, in a palace haunted by child-ghosts. As one wife journeys toward the other, united by the vision of Agamemnon’s death, one thing is certain: this long-awaited homecoming will change everyone’s fates forever.

Pat Barker was born in Yorkshire and began her literary career in her late thirties, when she took a short writing course taught by Angela Carter. She has published sixteen novels, including her masterful Regeneration Trilogy which includes the Booker Prize-winning The Ghost Road. The Silence of the Girls was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and won an Independent Bookshop Award 2019. The Women of Troy was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. The Voyage Home continues the series.

Alex Christofi:  Cypria: A Journey to the Heart of the Mediterranean (Bloomsbury)

In Cypria, named after a lost Cypriot epic which was the prequel to The Odyssey, British Cypriot writer Alex Christofi writes a deeply personal, lyrical history of the island of Cyprus, from the era of goddesses and mythical beasts to the present day.

This sprawling, evocative and poetic book begins with the legend of the cyclops and the storytelling at the heart of the Mediterranean culture. Christofi travels to salt lakes, crusader castles, mosques and the eerie town deserted at the start of the 1974 war. He retells the particularly bloody history of Cyprus during the twentieth century and considers his own identity as traveler and returner, as Odysseus was.

Written in sensitive, witty and beautifully rendered prose, with a novelist's flair and eye for detail, Cypria combines the political, cultural and geographical history of Cyprus with reflections on time, place and belonging.

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld Publishers and author of four books published in 12 languages, including the novels Let Us Be True and Glass, winner of the Betty Trask Prize for fiction. Dostoevsky in Love, his first work of non-fiction, was shortlisted for the Biographers' Club Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize and named as a Literary Non-fiction Book of the Year by the Times and Sunday Times. He followed Dostoevsky in Love with Cypria, a new history of Cyprus and the Meditteranean.

Julia Kindt:  The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures That Make Us Human (CUP)

What makes us human? What, if anything, sets us apart from all other creatures? Ever since Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the answer to these questions has pointed to our own intrinsic animal nature. Yet the idea that, in one way or another, our humanity is entangled with the non-human has a much longer and more venerable history. In the West, it goes all the way back to classical antiquity. This grippingly written and provocative book boldly reveals how the ancient world mobilised concepts of 'the animal' and 'animality' to conceive of the human in a variety of illuminating ways.

Through ten stories about marvelous mythical beings – from the Trojan Horse to the Cyclops, and from Androcles' lion to the Minotaur – Julia Kindt unlocks fresh ways of thinking about humanity that extend from antiquity to the present and that ultimately challenge our understanding of who we really are.

Julia Kindt is a Professor of Ancient History at the University of Sydney, a Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council (2018-22), and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. She is a senior editor of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religions (ORE), and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Ancient History and Antichthon. Her previous, highly regarded, books include Rethinking Greek Religion (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and Revisiting Delphi. Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Ferdia Lennon:  Glorious Exploits (Penguin Fig Tree)

In Ferdia Lennon’s charming debut, “Glorious Exploits,” Athenian prisoners stage Euripides for their wine-swilling, foul-mouthed captors. On the island of Sicily amid the Peloponnesian War, the Syracusans have figured out what to do with the surviving Athenians who had the gall to invade their city: they’ve herded the sorry prisoners of war into a rock quarry and left them to rot. Looking for a way to pass the time, Lampo and Gelon, two unemployed potters with a soft spot for poetry and drink, head down into the quarry to feed the Athenians if, and only if, they can manage a few choice lines from their great playwright Euripides. Before long, the two mates hatch a plan to direct a full-blown production of Medea..

Told in a contemporary Irish voice and as riotously funny as it is deeply moving, Glorious Exploits is an unforgettable ode to the power of art in a time of war, brotherhood in a time of enmity, and human will throughout the ages.

Ferdia Lennon was born and raised in Dublin. He holds a BA in History and Classics from University College Dublin and an MA in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. Glorious Exploits is his first novel. A Sunday Times bestseller, it was adapted for BBC Radio 4 and was the winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2024.

Glenn Peers:  Byzantine Media Subjects (Cornell UP)

Byzantine Media Subjects invites readers into a world replete with images—icons, frescoes, and mosaics filling places of worship, politics, and community. Glenn Peers asks readers to think themselves into a world where representation reigned and humans followed, and indeed were formed. Interrogating the fundamental role of representation in the making of the Byzantine human, Peers argues that Byzantine culture was (already) posthuman.

The Byzantine experience reveals the extent to which media like icons, manuscripts, music, animals, and mirrors fundamentally determine humans. In the Byzantine world, representation as such was deeply persuasive, even coercive; it had the power to affect human relationships, produce conflict, and form self-perception. Media studies has made its subject the modern world, but this book argues for media having made historical subjects. Here, it is shown that media long ago also made Byzantine humans, defining them, molding them, mediating their relationship to time, to nature, to God, and to themselves.

Glenn Peers is Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at both Syracuse University and the University of Texas at Austin. Among his eight books are, as author, Animism, Materiality, and Museums and Sacred Shock, and, as editor, Byzantine Things in the World. He lives in Bennington, Vermont.

First conceived in 1983 and presented for the first time in 1986, the Runciman Award is an annual literary award offered by the Anglohellenic League for a work published in English dealing wholly or in part with Greece or Hellenism. Named in honor of Sir Steven Runciman, the eminent Byzantine scholar, the aim of the Award is to stimulate interest in Greek history and culture culture from earliest times to the present, to reward and encourage good and accessible writing as well as to promote wider knowledge and understanding of Greece’s contribution to civilization and values.  Previous winners have included Mark Mazower, Antony Beevor, Richard Clogg,K.E. Fleming, Emily Greenwood, Juliet du Boulay, Bruce Clark,  A.E. Stallings, and of course, Roderick Beaton, the only author to have won it four times.

The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award is sponsored by the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. The winner receives a prize of £10,000.

I.L.

The post Sasha Dugdale wins 2025 Runciman Award for poetry collection ‘The Strongbox’ appeared first on Greek News Agenda.