ALEXANDROS PAPADIAMANTIS (2001) – 150 years since his birth

2001 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexandros Papadiamantis, and the 50th anniversary of the death of Grigioris Xenopoulos and Angelos Sikelianos. To honour those authors, the Ministry of Culture and EKEBI decided to host a series of events and activities in collaboration with the organising committee set up for that purpose. The committee chairman was Nasos Vagenas, University of Athens Professor, and its members were Stavros Zoumboulakis, manager of Nea Estia journal, Georgia Farinou-Malamatari, Prof. of Modern Greek Literature, University of Thessaloniki, Eliza-Anna Delveroudi, Asst. Prof. of History of Theatre and Film, Theatre & Music Studies Section, Dept. of Philology, University of Crete, Vicky Patsiou, Asst. Prof. of Modern Greek Philology and Children’s Literature, University of Athens, Konstantinos Koroulis, Director of the Literature Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, and Christos Lazos, Director of the National Book Centre. The secretariat comprised Despina Moraiti, from the Ministry of Culture's Literature Directorate, and Angeliki Papanikolaou, National Book Centre special consultant.

EVENTS
A. International symposium on “Papadiamantis under other skies”
The French literary periodical L’ atelier du roman and the company Exantas working with EKEBI and the Municipality of Thessaloniki organized the symposium in Thessaloniki on 21-22 September 2001. It was attended by authors, academics, artists, journalists and critics from Greece and abroad.
B. 2nd International Conference on Papadiamantis 
The 2nd International Conference on Alexander Papadiamantis organised by the Papadiamantis Studies Society and the University of Athens from 1 to 5 November in Athens was a major event. The conference was addressed by 54 speakers who were leading scholars of modern Greek studies and the work of Papadiamantis, from both Greece and abroad. The Papadiamantis Studies Society undertook to publish the proceedings of the conference. The Papadiamantis exhibition in the Kontos Room at the University of Athens’ Central Building was of particular interest since it included a wealth of archival and photographic material such as manuscripts, first editions of his works, personal effects and works of art inspired by the author. On 5 November ‘Murderer’ was performed at the School of Philosophy by students of that school under the guidance of Fotis Dimitrakopoulos. A round table discussion was also held there attended by directors and actors entitled ‘Directing Papadiamantis’.
C. Series of lecture dedicated to Papadiamantis’ work. Two discussions were held in the Arena room at the National Book Centre. One was held on 26 September 2001 on modern Greek writers and Papadiamantis and the speakers were Angela Kastrinaki, Stratis Paschalis, Thomas Skassis, Christos Homenidis, chaired by Stavros Zoumboulakis. The second was held on 3 October 2001 on modern scholars and Papadiamantis and the speakers were Marina Aretaki, Nikolaos Kalospyros and Angeliki Papageorgopoulou.

PUBLICATIONS
To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Papadiamantis, the following books were published with the support of EKEBI and the Ministry of Culture:
Lucifer and the Abyss – The personal myth of Papadiamantis. Essays by Guy (Michel) Saunier, Agra Press.
Brilliant Light. A tribute to Papadiamantis and his world. Reprint of his collected works by the Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive.
The Novelist Papadiamantis, anthology of critiques edited by Stavros Zoumboulakis and Nikolaos Triantafyllopoulos, Estia Press.
Remember Alexandros Papadiamantis illustrated volume.
As part of the celebrations in honour of Papadiamantis, EKEBI published a tribute of 48 pages to the author edited by Fotis Dimitrakopoulos with layout by Panagiotis Anastasopoulos. The illustrated volume included a detailed timeline of the author's life, a full list of his works, a selected bibliography and an anthology of his literary works.
The literary journals Lexi and Diavazo were also subsidised to publish issues dedicated to Alexandros Papadiamantis.

Mobile Exhibition
EKEBI created a mobile exhibition on the life and work of this leading author. The exhibition consists of 25 panels with a wealth of photographic material, information on his life and works, the covers of books and manuscripts by Papadiamantis. It is available from EKEBI for use at events organised in the author’s honour in Greece and abroad.