Kostas Barbatsis was born in Agrinio and lives in Thessaloniki. He studied Applied Informatics at the University of Macedonia and has a Master’s and PhD in Informatics. Works as a computer science teacher in public education. The book Likokhavia and Other Stories, published by Kedros, is his first book.

Burial Customs by Hannah Kent, Occult Stories by Karel Capek, and The Book of Unrest by Fernando Pessoa.

Tom Sawyer of Mark Twain, because he is the exact opposite of a kind and obedient child. With freedom, carelessness, carelessness and all this against the environment in which he lives.

Dimitris Hatsis, Giorgos Ioannou, Argyris Chionis, Thomas Korovini and the poet Kyriakos Ramolis. Let it be summer, he says, and let’s chat while drinking wine in the courtyard of a tavern in Thessaloniki.

Thanks to Mason Carey’s The Art of the Routine, I learned that creating a great project doesn’t come all of a sudden. Factors such as daily habits and, of course, hard work play a crucial role in inspiration and creativity.

The Trial of Franz Kafka. I’ve caught it a few times in the past but never finished. The mere thought of Josef K.’s horrendous suffering made me frustrated and retreat.

I usually don’t read the same book more than once. The exception was The Plague by Albert Camus, which I re-read during the quarantine period.

Beyond the loss of human life, to the loss of freedom, birthplace, companions, beloved animals, but also to the loss of sanity.

I would say that one of the most important and eternal reasons leading to flight, in the literal sense of the word, is war. There are many reasons besides this. Love failure, marriage stalemate, relationships, variety or idiosyncrasies that a person may have. All this, depending, of course, on the temperament of the person, can lead you to “escape”.

zealStory by: Alexandra Scaraki