Vassilis Vassilikos at FOUGARO
On Sunday 10 December at 6pm, Fougaro welcomes professor Georgios Babiniotis and journalist Yannis Ν. Baskozos for the presentation of the book The bitter truths of my language.
The professor will talk with the journalist about words, education and culture, answer the audience's question and sign copies of his book. The introduction will be by Yannis Stamos, head of Fougaro's Library.
Vassilis Vassilikos, the emblematic contemporary Greek writer, comes to FOUGARO on the occasion of the new edition of Z after 50 years (Gutenberg, 2016) on Friday 21 April at 8pm, the day of the unfortunate fiftieth anniversary since the military coup and the imposition of the colonels' regime in Greece in 1967!
According to the author himself, Ζ is "a literary news report" or "the imaginary documentary of a crime" and describes the political assassination of left-wing MP Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. It was written immediately after the event and published in 1966 (Themelio Press), to be banned in 1967 by the junta. Nevertheless, it was made into a film by the expatriate Greek director Costa Gavras and translated in French and another 21 languages, and sold in over 18 countries.
The success of the book and the film abroad helped raise the international community's sentiment against the dictatorship in Greece. Moreover, the fact that the book mentions no specific names or places, and the tumultuous international politics of the '60s, established Z as a universal symbol of the peace movement and the struggle agains totalitarianism. This book, alongside Kazantzakis's Zorba the Greek, are the two Greek novels on the list of "1,000 Novels everyone must read" compiled by The Guardian in 2009.
The author will discuss the book with Yannis Stamos, head of Fougaro's Library, to revive history through the events of that time of unrest; he will answer the audience's questions and sign copies of the book.
Vassilis Vassilikos
Born in Kavala in 1934, during WWII he moved with his family to Thessaloniki where he stayed until 1957, studying Law at the University. After a brief stay in Athens, in 1959 he left to study television directing at the School of R.C.A. in New York. He returned to Greece in late 1960 and lived in Athens until 1967, embarking on his collaboration with Tachydromos magazine and working as screenwriter and director's assistant in foreign and Greek films. With the advent of the colonels' dictatorship he self-exiled to countries in Western Europe and in New York, where he was active against the Greek regime and established 8½ Press, which published many of his books. He returned to Greece when the dictatorship fell, and collaborated with newspapers and magazines. In 1981 he was appointed deputy director of the State Radio & Television, to resign four years later. In 1993 he settled in Athens, where he lives to this day. In literature he made his appearance in 1949, when his poems were published in Macedonia newspaper. In 1953 he published the novel The narrative of Jason; however, national and world recognition came in 1966 with the book Ζ. In 1978 he was presented with the Mediteranneo Award in Palermo, Sicily, for his entire oeuvre. His books have been translated in numerous languages
