Literary Festival on Tinos

A multinational gathering of writers and poets took place on the Cycladic island of Tinos during the island’s fourth Tinos International Literary Festival. The three day event ended July 26, and was a celebration of contemporary literature by writers from Cyprus, Greece, the United States, Mexico, Israel, Denmark, Croatia, Albania, and Kurdistan.

Dinos Siotis serves as Artistic Director. The Society of Dekata hosted the festival and co-organizers included the Tinos Municipality, the Pan-Hellenic Holy Foundation of Evangelistria of Tinos, and the Tinos Cultural Foundation. Sponsors worked together to combine culture and tourism so that participants enjoyed both the works of various authors while exploring the beauty of Tinos.

Jeffrey Siger, a well-known mystery writer, was the only American author among the artists. Mr. Siger left his life as a New York lawyer to write highly acclaimed mysteries; two of the most popular are Murder in Mykonos and Mykonos After Midnight. Mykonos is Mr. Siger’s adopted home of thirty years and when not in Greece he enjoys his other home, a farm outside New York City.

Participants read their works in their native language and the poems and narrations were then available in both Greek and English translations. Outstanding entertainment by local musicians and dancers, and round-table discussions made this a very successful cultural and educational event. It promises to be even larger next year.

A press release explains that the goal of the Festival is to “make Tinos a reference point and a meeting place of international, contemporary literature where West meets East, the North and South and the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.” It explains that the objective is to accomplish this through readings and recitations, dance and music, and, in the process, break barriers to communication. The release states: “The wealth of different languages and contemporary literature trends of the world will be common ground and the work of the writers will be for the common good.”

This year’s authors were, in alphabetical order: Yiorgos Blanas,, Greece; Xenophon Brountzakis, Greece; Stratis Haviaras, Greece; Christos Ikonomou, Greece; Ardita Jatru, Albania,; Laurie Keza, Greece; Maja Klaric, Croatia,; Elsa Korneti, Greece; Kleopatra Lyberi, Greece; Hiwa Panahi, Iranian Kurdistan; Evridiki Periocleous-Papadopoulou, Cyprus; Yiorgos Rouvalis, Greece; Enrique Servin Herrera, Mexico,; Jeffrey Siger, USA; Klety Sotiriadou, Greece; Nicolaj Stockholm, Denmark; Natassa Svikart Zumer, Slovenia; Minas Vintiadis, Greece; and Mindy Zhang, China

TELOS

Published in The National Herald, July 2014