I.W.T.C.R.  PRESIDENT’S SPEECH AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY  MAY 2005

 

Dear friends,

As the new President of the International Writers and Translators’ Centre of Rhodes since March 2005, I would like to welcome you to the Centre on the occasion of your General Assembly and wish you all the best during your meetings.

My profession, as some of you may already know, is that of a lawyer. As a town councilor for 10 whole years, I have undertaken the Presidency of the International Writers and Translators’ Centre of Rhodes with a great zeal and passion, which, I believe, has already been observed by my colleagues, and I hope that you will observe it as well.

The role of the International Writers and Translators’ Centre of Rhodes was and still is the promotion of literature through a spirit of cooperation, gathering and coexistence of people originating from different countries. The offer of hospitality to writers and translators coming to the Centre constitutes our main concern. Having this as our goal and milestone, always in the frame of the peaceful coexistence of people, I would like to inform you for the work that has been undertaken by the Centre during the year since your previous General Assembly which was held last June, as well as for what is going to follow in the near future.

Following the events during the General Assembly in last June, a presentation of the well-known translator, writer and academic Mr. Edmund Keeley, was organized on June, 28. The presentation was held at Nestorideion Melathron, on the occasion of a conference on Lawrence Durrell.

Following the meeting of the Three Seas Writers & Translators’ Council in October 2004, we presented on October, 30 the work of Dimitris Tsaloumas, a famous poet originating from Leros but living in Australia. The work was presented by Ms. Popi Theodorou-Aslanidou and Mr. Mihalis G. Meraklis.

On January, 18 at the hall of events of Aktaion we presented the novel of Gaga Rosic entitled “Ladder from the Sky”. Thanassis Efthimiadis (a very famous actor in Greece) presented the novel.

On March, 21 in cooperation with the National Book Centre (EKEBI), the International Writers and Translators’ Centre of Rhodes participated in the celebration of the World Poetry Day by hanging posters in central points of the town as well as in the means of transport. The posters contained verses of Old and Modern Greek poets.

On April, 6 we participated at the book fair organized by the Club of Parents of the Municipality of Ialyssos on the occasion of the World Book Day. The Centre presented its goals, the work that has been done since its opening and of course its publications.

On April, 15-16 the Centre received an invitation, thanks to our dear friend Peter Curman, from the Swedish Institute of Athens, where a first contact has been established among organizations from Greece and Sweden in order to achieve a better cooperation. We believe that we have established the basis to have a further cooperation not only in general with the different organizations, but also and more specifically with the Baltic Centre in Visby, something we are mostly interested on and we shall work on it with great enthusiasm.

On April, 16 we presented the historical novel of Dimitris Papadopoulos entitled “Raphael Stavriotis”. The book was presented by the professor of Byzantine and Historic studies at the University of the Aegean, Mr. Alexios Savidis, whereas the journalist, Ms. Despina Diamanti, read some extracts from the novel accompanied by a lyre played by Mr. Nikos Georgiadis and the little Panagiotis Georgiadis.

Finally, on May, 13 on the occasion of hosting at the Centre the significant Danish translator, Mr. Otto Steen Due, we presented the translator and his work in a school of Rhodes. The students had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Due reading Homer in the Ancient Greek language with an Erasmian accent and also into the Danish language. The translator himself was enthusiastic with the attention shown by the students and the hospitality offered by the school. We would like you to know that such moves will be organized with other guests as well and we believe they will have an even bigger success.

However, apart form the events organized all this time, a number of other activities is going to be organized or are in progress.

On June, 2-4 the I.W.T.C.R. will be represented by its members at the Board of Trustees, Mr. George Papantonakis and Mr. Spyros Syropoulos in Victoria-Gasteiz of Spain, where the 3rd Conference of New-Hellenic Studies in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America will be held.

Furthermore, the Centre will start a series of workshops of creative writing for children, teenagers and young adults, with the aim to bring young people closer to literature. Thus, having as aim all the above, the Centre is going to establish a Contest of Literary Text on an annual basis for children of Primary Schools – High Schools – Senior High Schools with a different subject each year.

The Centre is also going to cooperate with the National Book Centre (EKEBI) in a series of activities aiming at bringing closer the literary field and the schools. Thus, with a series of presentations of mobile exhibitions, with the programme “Reading Relay”, as well as with programmes of encouraging children to use libraries, the centre aims at approaching and establishing literature in the field of schools.

At this point I would like to inform you that following personal contacts and actions, we are moving towards getting a grant of land to the Centre. It’s one of the best neoclassical buildings of Rhodes, situated in the centre of town, and it’s going to be granted by an institution of Rhodes. We have many ideas for this building, yet we are not going to communicate them to you right now, but quite shortly.

Furthermore, I would like to announce that our demand to have students of the Librarian Department having their practice at the Centre has been approved. Thus, from the beginning of the next school year we will have students working at the Library of the Centre, thus practicing and helping us at the same time. Concerning the permanent position of a librarian at the Centre, we would like to inform you that it is also under approval by the State Council of Personnel Selection (ASEP) and we hope that we will soon be in a position to hire a permanent employee for our library.

We would like you to know that we have already arranged to have personal contacts and communication with the writers and translators coming to the Centre. The improvement of the conditions of living at the Centre is and will always be one of our priorities.

As you know the Centre is going to buy some dictionaries for our library, something that we believe will be relatively soon realized. However, I would like to ask you personally (as my predecessor Mr. Skandalidis has already done) to bring each one of you a dictionary from your country, which will be useful for the translators’ work, but also for the writers visiting the Centre. If each one of you brings us a dictionary next time you come, then our library, your library, will be significantly enriched.

Concerning the Centre’s publishing activity, we have received the bilingual edition (Greek – English) of G. Veltsos’ poetry collection “Shadow”, translated by David Connolly. There are copies at the Centre at the disposal of whoever wishes to have one.

The honorary volume for the university professor Mr. Konstantinos Minas is ready, whereas we are going to publish the poetry collection “Mythography” by Vassilis Pis, as well as the poetry collection of Pantelis Efthimiou “The Wreath of the Sea”, translated into English by Sevasti Antonara. All three of them come from the Dodecanese islands.

Furthermore, we are working on the publishing of the minutes of a conference organized in Rhodes by the I.W.T.C.R. entitled “Insularism – Insularity”, under the care of Mr. I. Vassilarakis.

The I.W.T.C.R. grants also an amount of money to the publication that the Ukrainian Embassy in Greece is preparing entitled: “Greeks at the Ukrainian land”.

Finally, we are preparing the first publication in Greece of the very well-known abroad Greek poet, Dimitris Tsaloumas, with his poetry work “Bearing fruit twice a year”.

We shouldn’t, however, cut out mentioning the “Helios” magazine. The last issue is, as you all know, dedicated on one part to the great poet Gennadij Aygi, and on the other part to the 10 years since the cruise to the Black Sea. The material has already been given to the editor and we are waiting for the first sample of printing within the month in order to proceed to its final edition.

At this point, I would like to end by underlining the importance of the cooperation that I hope we will have together, the good understanding that we must have in our effort to organize events and the necessity there is to find sources, additional to those already received each year by the Municipality. As you all know, our times are very difficult and the Centre, which is exclusively financed by the Municipality of Rhodes, does not constitute an exception. The international character of the Centre – a character that no other Centre in the world possesses – imposes to address ourselves not only to local authorities, but also to international ones. And there we need your help. The budget of the Centre is adjusted according to the financial coincidences and possibilities of the Municipality of Rhodes. In no circumstance, however, is there any intention from the part of Municipality to stop financing the Centre, because of course there is a vitality and necessity to have such a Centre operating on Rhodes.

Therefore, we are waiting for your help concerning the finding of partners from other E.U. countries in order to jointly achieve a grant for culture programmes.  We consider your participation as granted and we also consider as granted the fact that in whatever your (the members of the Committee) thoughts are for the other Centres of Europe, you will first and foremost have in mind the Centre of Rhodes. I wish you will have, as we have, a spirit of understanding and help for the better and more productive operation of the Centre.

Finally, I wish you all success to your meetings during these days.

 

  Kazoulis Kazoullakis

The President of I.W.T.C.R.

Nariams

Naujienlaiškis