Saturday 27 May 2023 17:30
In Μay, the SNFCC Reading Club is dedicated to the memory of Filippos Tsimpoglou, Director General of the National Library of Greece (NLG).
In Μay, the Children’s Reading Club for young booklovers aged 10 to 12 continues its meetings, facilitated by author Angeliki Darlasi. Angeliki Darlasi is a writer of prose and theatrical plays, while she has also engaged with television and cinema. Among her awarded works are: The Boy in the Royal Box, Badboy, When We Hid an Angel, and Dream Guardians.
The book that will be discussed in this month's meeting is More Beautiful Than You by Kostas Haralas.
Our young readers will meet to share impressions, feelings and thoughts, as well as to embark on an imaginary journey, sparked by the book of the month, into the fascinating worlds emerging from its pages.
The book
Filler, a rare and lonely ukulele, and Rasmussen, a blue Norwegian parrot, live on the two opposite banks of the Red River. The moment comes when, determined to confront their fears, prejudices and ancestral myths, the two meet in the middle of the way across the great river. But this encounter will be only the beginning of a long journey through the Amazon forests and a series of adventures and new acquaintances. Among those they will meet is the parrot Galea, who sacrificed her freedom for the sake of her sister, as well as humans, like Cornelius Beck, a well-known member of Britain's Botanical Society, and his rival, German professor Xavier Das. Although Beck is studying orchids and Das parrots, each on behalf of his respective country is also looking for the forest of rubber trees, believing that this discovery will give them an advantage in the great war that is fast approaching, which is none other than World War I.
If you enjoy adventures and mysteries, reality mixed with fantasy and allegory, if you are interested in issues like the environment and the wildlife, this story is bound to thrill you. After you have read it, we will be taking our cue from the book to discuss topics such as climate change and history, as well as true friendship and real beauty. We will talk about what may ultimately happen if we dare push our boundaries… Can it be that this is a way of getting to know ourselves better?
The author
Kostas Haralas was born in Thessaloniki in 1974. He studied advertising, has been a writer since 1999, and is a professional organic beekeeper. He has published more than seventeen books for children and teenagers, many of which have been awarded and two of which have been translated into Korean. His first book, The Shark's Dance, published when he was only twenty-five years old, was included in the list of honorary mentions of Diavazo magazine. In 2003, he was awarded by Greek IBBY – Kyklos Paidikou Vivliou for his book The Mystery of Anomvrida. In 2010, he was nominated for the Greek State Prize for his book The Box of Anger, and in 2017, his book Black Sheep in Texas won the State Prize for Children’s Fiction. His book More Beautiful Than You was shortlisted for a state award. Haralas was a co-creator of the docuseries “Everything Flows” that was screened by ERT3 in 2004, and is active in programs that promote the love of reading and ecology.
The facilitator
A writer of literature for children and young adults, playwright and teacher of creative writing and theater.
Works and books of hers have been translated into English, Turkish, Korean, Spanish, and French. Her books have been adapted for theater (most recently, The Boy in the Royal Box, by the National Theater of Greece, 2021-2022) and puppetry performances, while some are in the pre-production stage to be adapted into films (on screenplays by the author herself), in Greece and abroad.
She has participated as co-author in productions of the State Theaters of Karlsruhe and Uppsala and the National Theater of Luxembourg (2021 & 2022), and the Union des Théâtres del'Europe (2018). Several plays of hers have been staged in Athens: Lighthouse–SNFCC, Athens Concert Hall, Art Theatre Readers’ Theatre Festival, Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, Alkmini Theater, Amore Theater–stage B, et al. She has been repeatedly awarded and distinguished for her work (both prose and theatre).
Since 2006, she has been teaching Creative Writing and/or Theater to adults and children-teenagers, working with both public and private organizations (e.g. The Department of Theatre Studies of the University of Peloponnese, public and private post-secondary vocational schools, Metaichmio Publications, etc.). She is a motivational speaker and facilitator of activities for children and adolescents (creative writing, theater, arts and education, love of reading, etc.).
She holds degrees from the Athens University Department of Theatre Studies and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (MA in Performance Studies).
After reading the book
• The Amazon rainforest is considered very important. Can you find information about it, which we can then discuss together at our meeting? • The main characters of our story are birds, who nevertheless manage to lure us into their story as if they were human. Can you think of which animals you would have star in a story of your own, and why?
Saturday 27/05 17.30 - 19.00
MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN
Up to 22 participants | For children aged 10 to 12 Free admission with online pre-registration
Preregistration starts on 03/04 at 12.00
Anyone reserving a seat at the Book Club is required to have read the book of the month. (ALSO, it is recommended that children bring the book with them.)
The book "More Beautiful Than You" by Kostas Haralas is available (in Greek) from Kalendis publications.
Children should always be accompanied by parents or adult attendants who should not be away from the outdoor activity.
As part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's collaboration with the National Library of Greece, the book for the Reading Club has been chosen by NLG staff members.
