Literary Year of Alkis Zeis in 2023

“Literary Year of Alkis Zei” is declared in 2023 by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth. As part of the action, a series of events is organized throughout 2023.

As the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni stated:

“A much-loved, prolific, multi-translated and multi-awarded author, with a significant presence in the field of Greek letters, children’s and adolescent literature in Greece and abroad, Alki Zei remained active until the end of her life, regularly talking to her readers and participating in the commons.

Her writing is directly related to history. Starting from her personal experiences, she weaves the premise of her works alongside historical events. Her clear way of writing, linguistic perfection, critical attitude towards people and situations, humor and a penetrating look at events, are the characteristics of her works:

“The Fiancee of Achilles”, “The Chaplain of the Showcase” and “The Great Walk of Peter”, are included in the timeless best-sellers of modern Greek literature, remaining popular with teenagers and adult readers.

The Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports Nikolas Giatromanolakis made the following statement: “The Alki Zei phenomenon will mean children’s and adolescent literature
which is read with passion by adults as well, it will mean literary characters that influence generations and generations of readers, it will mean rendering of history with high literary value, it will mean innumerable distinctions and translations in dozens of languages, it will mean books that are present in almost every Greek home . We will celebrate and honor this phenomenon in 2023.”

Alki Zei herself had written about the relationship of her writing work with History:

“From my young years until today, let’s not say exactly how many there are because I will be scared myself, I lived through a war, two civil wars, two dictatorships and two refugees. I did not experience them as a simple observer, but taking an active part every time and even if I wanted to, my writing could not be affected by these events that shocked our country.

Unwittingly, my life became entangled in history and I became a part of it. So, my writing project, whether I like it or not, is full of history…

If I managed to get the children to at least listen to it, the future will tell,” he had said.

Alki Zei started writing from a very young age. In the first grades of high school, he started writing texts for the puppet theater. One of the heroes he created, Cluvius, later became the hero of the well-known puppet theater “Barba-Mitusis”.

Her first novel is “To Kaplani tis Vitrinas” (1963), an almost autobiographical work, inspired by her childhood in Samos. A series of children’s novels followed, and in 1987 her first book for adults, Achilles’ Fiancee, was published.

In 2013 she released her autobiographical work “With Faber Pencil Number Two”, and in 2017 “How Long Will You Live Still, Grandma”.

Her last book, A Child from Nowhere, was published a few months before her death.

“Kaplani tis Vitrinas”, her first novel, was a landmark work for Greek children’s literature and is now considered a classic work of world children’s literature, with continuous reprints since 1963 when it was first published in Greece and many translations and awards abroad .

Alki Zei has been an ambassador of modern Greek literature abroad, as all of her work has been translated and circulated in many countries around the world.

She has also translated several books from French, Italian and Russian.

She was honored with the prize of the Academy of Athens for her entire work and was awarded an honorary doctorate in the Universities of Greece and Cyprus.

He received the Golden Cross of the Order of Honor, and the title of Brigadier General of the Order of Arts and Letters.

For the organization of the “Alkis Zeis Literary Year”, an unpaid working group was set up for the coordination, support, planning of actions, as well as for the evaluation of proposals and patronage requests of various organizations for their actions in the context of the celebration of the Year.

The team consists of:

• Eleni Doundoulaki, General Secretary of Modern Culture
• Filippo Tsiboglou, Director General of the National Library of Greece
• Petros Sevastikoglou, Director – professor of cinematography
• Christina Dounia, Emeritus Professor of Modern Greek Philology EKPA
• Melpomeni Kanatsouli, Professor of the Preschool Education and Science Department of the AUTH
• Athanasios Agathos, Associate Professor of Modern Greek Philology EKPA
• Vassiliki Nika, Educator, Member of the Faculty of Education, Greek Department of IBBY
• Platonas Mavromoustakos, Professor of the Department of Theater Studies of EKPA
• Sissy Papathanasiou, Historian of Culture, Head of the Directorate of Letters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Among the central actions in the context of the Literary Year celebration, the Ministry of Education and Culture is planning the release of a dedicated volume, a large
exhibition at the Benaki Museum (Piraeus Building 138) at the end of February, as well as a series of educational programs and events in Greece and
abroad.

Alki Zei will also be honored at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair (March 6-9, 2023), where Greece will participate as an “honored market”.

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