46th Book Festival in Zappeion

I have to start by saying that it was very hot. 34oC but with no wind and high levels of humidity it felt more like 40oC. Tomorrow and the next day it's going to be even hotter. What's worse is that we cannot go swimming as most of the Saronic Gulf is polluted by the huge oil spill that has devastated our shores. Nevertheless, we had a good and enjoyable day.

It was therefore very pleasant to walk in the shade of the National Garden.

We were heading towards Zappeion, to the 46th Book Festival where my niece, Tatiana Tzinioli was doing a book signing for her latest novel.

Zappeion, built in 1869 was the first building to be erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games and is now used for conferences, exhibitions and other public and private functions.

 The whole area was teaming with people, and in the distance we could see the Acropolis.

Lots of people had come to look at and buy books.





First stop, Pege Editions, Tatiana's publishers.

After Midnight, Tatiana's latest novel, the second in the Manhattan trilogy. The third one will be published in March.





Road Trip, her first novel, and then After Midnight, and One Evening, the first two of the trilogy.

Tatiana holding two of her books.

It was very pleasing to see so many people stopping at the stall. We stayed there for about an hour then decided to have a look around.

The books are sold at a substantive discount, so lots of people were buying.

Lots of Marxist books - this is Greece after all,

Che and Fidel

books on education, this one about teaching children with special needs

Frieda Kahlo

Greek music composers, Theodorakis and Hatzidakis

posters

translations of some of my favourite authors, Marilynne Robinson, Margaret Atwood and Anne Tyler

Haruki Murakami, another favourite,

Pyotr Kropotkin next to Arthur Rimbaud

Bertolt Brecht and more of Arthur Rimbaud

Rosa Luxembourg

More Rimbaud - I had not realised he was that popular in Greece

We then reached the Marxist bookshop that was advertising the march that took place in Athens yesterday (you can read about that here )

Socialist magazine

 an article on Jeremy Corbyn in International Socialism

We then reached the children's area where story telling was going on.


I never thought I would say 'too many books' but that's how it felt - after a while we were totally 'booked- out', could not  concentrate on the titles anymore, but really, isn't that a wonderful thing? So good to see so many books and so many people browsing. So we went back to Pege publishers for another half hour and then, totally exhausted by the heat we decided to head home.

On the way to the bus we stopped by this pool to look at the turtles

And what a pleasure that was!

Such hard work trying to climb up that rock, but they all wanted to do it.

 The babies were particularly cute.