“The Ministry of Culture and Sports, with particular pleasure and honor, declares 2023 the Year of Literature of Alkis Zey on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth, organizing a series of events throughout 2023,” the related announcement reads. Ministry of the Interior.

As Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni stated:

“A beloved, prolific, multi-translated and multi-award-winning author, with a significant presence in the fields of Greek letters, children’s and adolescent literature in Greece and abroad, Alki Zey remained active until the end of her life, speaking regularly to her readers and participating in the public domain. Her work is directly related to history. Drawing from her personal experience, she weaves the premise of her work with historical events. Her clear writing style, linguistic excellence, a critical attitude to people and situations, humor and an insightful look at events characterize her works: “The Bride of Achilles”, “The Chaplain of the Showcase” and “Peter’s Great Walk”, are included in the immortal bestsellers of modern Greek literature, remaining popular with teens and adult readers.”

The Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports, Nicholas Giatromanolakis, made the following statement: “The Alki Zei phenomenon will mean literature for children and teenagers that adults also read with passion, it will be literary characters that influence generations and generations of readers, it will mean giving the story a high literary value. , this will mean countless differences and translations into dozens of languages, these will be books that are in almost every Greek home. We will celebrate and honor this phenomenon in 2023.”

Alki Zey herself wrote about the connection between her writing and history: “From my young years to today, let’s not say exactly how many there are, because I myself would be scared, I survived a war, two civil wars, two dictatorships. and two refugees. I experienced them not as a mere observer, but each time taking an active part, and even if I wanted to, these events that shook our country could not affect my letter. Involuntarily, my life became entangled in history, and I became part of it. So my writing, whether I like it or not, is full of history… If I can get the kids to even listen to it, the future will tell,” he said.

Alki Zey has been involved in writing from a very young age. In the first grades of high school he began to write texts for the puppet theater. One of the heroes he created, Cluvius, later became the hero of the famous puppet theater “Barba-Mitusis”. Her first novel was 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, The Bride of Achilles, was published. In 2013, she released her autobiographical work, With Faber Pencil Number Two, and in 2017, How Long You Live, Grandma. Her last book, The Nowhere Child, was published a few months before her death. Kaplani tis Vitrinas, her first novel, became a landmark work for Greek children’s literature and is now considered a classic of world children’s literature, with continuous reprints since 1963 when it was first published in Greece, and many translations and awards abroad. Alki Zey has been an ambassador of modern Greek literature abroad, as all her works have been translated and distributed in many countries around the world. She has also translated several books from French, Italian and Russian. For all her work, she was awarded the Academy of Athens Prize and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universities of Greece and Cyprus. He received the Gold Cross of the Order of Honor and the rank of Brigadier General of the Order of Arts and Letters.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a non-reimbursable working group was created to organize the “Alkis Zeis Literary Year” to coordinate, support, plan events, as well as evaluate proposals and requests for sponsorship from various organizations for their actions in the context of the celebration of the Year.

The team consists of:

– Eleni Dundulaki, General Secretary of the Department of Contemporary Culture

– Filippo Tsiboglu, Director General of the National Library of Greece.

– Petros Sevastikoglu, director-professor of cinematography

– Kristina Dunia, Honorary Professor of Modern Greek Philology, EKPA

– Melpomeni Kanatsuli, Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education and Parenting, AUTH

– Athanasios Agathos, Deputy Professor of Modern Greek Philology, EKPA

– Nika Vasiliki, teacher, member of E.DI.P EKPA, president of IBBY Greece

– Platonas Mavromoustakos, Professor of the Department of Theater Studies at EKPA

– Sissi Papatanasiou, cultural historian, Head of Letters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among the highlights of the Literary Year Celebration, YPPOA is planning a special volume, a major exhibition at the Benaki Museum (Piraeus 138) at the end of February, and a series of educational programs and events in Greece and abroad. Alki Zei will also be featured at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair (March 6-9, 2023), where Greece will take part as an “honorary market”.