Since 2009 the Ibero-American Literature Festival in Athens (Festival Iberoamericano de Literatura en Atenas (LEA)) has been promoting and celebrating the literature, art, cinema, photography and music of Latin America, Portugal and Spain in Greece. It is a meeting point between Ibero-America and Greece and a space for recognising and practicing language and culture through literature, art, music, cinema and theatre. A variety of activities in all three languages allow the audiences taking part to enjoy and gain first-hand knowledge of these countries’ rich cultural and literary heritage.
This is the first festival in Greece to focus its interest on both Portuguese and Spanish literature and its cultural environment as well as on its Greek counterpart. It brings together the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and Greece, placing the emphasis on image, dance and music, but above all on words.
Its main purpose is to provide the city of Athens and its citizens with a celebration in which reading plays a leading role, where audiences can hear voices different to the local tongue, strengthening inter-cultural ties. For this purpose a series of activities will be held ranging from writers’ meeting, translation and creative writing workshops to debates, discussions, lectures, storytelling, dramatized readings, dance and theatre shows, as well as screenings of documentaries and films on literature.
AC/E is taking part in this year’s event by supporting the participation of Alfonso Mateo Sagasta and Olga Merino in ‘Ladrones de tinta’ a ‘Espuelas de papel’: Literatura española contemporánea frente a los desafíos de la historia (Contemporary Spanish literature vis-à-vis the challenges of history)and of Antonio Colinas and Chantal Maillard in Velada de poesía (Poetry evening).
