Friday 4 October, 7.30pm until 9.00pm, Hellenic American Union, Massalias 22, 10680, Athens, Greece International Satellite Events 2013
This debate will be in English
TICKETS: FREE AND UNTICKETED. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION EMAIL CULTURE@HAU.GR
In March 2013, Estia’s bookshop, a landmark in Athens’ intellectual life for 128 years, had to close down; another symbol of the ongoing financial crisis. More broadly, its passing has provoked a wider cultural debate about whether there is a future for books or bookshops in the network era of the Kindle, the myriad of blogs and Amazon. For others, however, the news that Amazon will be partnering with Public bookshops on promoting Greek books points to a more optimistic future for the book in the digital age. It is argued that the loss of bookshops is largely offset by the possibilities of digital publishing which can connect authors, publishers and readers more cheaply and effectively than ever and produce a more vibrant reading culture.
Outside of the publishing world, the debate over the decline of the common reader is not a debate confined to Greece. In the UK, education secretary Michael Gove provoked uproar for suggesting that school students should be encouraged to read George Eliot rather than the Twilight books, with many educationalists arguing that in a digital world that literacy (the basic ability to read and write) was more important to teach than literature. Yet there is increasing disquiet across Western universities that students’ wider knowledge, especially in the arts & humanities, is considerably lacking even in comparison to recent generations’ and representing a serious challenge to maintaining academic standards.
Should we worry less about how books are being bought and sold, and more about what books are being read and debated? Is the digital age undermining knowledge and inquiry, or widening our horizons? Are we focusing too much on the negative aspects of new technology, or is there something to mourn in the potential loss of cultural spaces such as bookshops and libraries? Can the e-book really be the saviour of the serious reader, or does a vibrant intellectual life require more than technological innovation?
Introduced by Nikos Sotirakopoulos
Manolis Andriotakis
journalist, GarageTV |
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Vangelis Davitidis
founder, Submarine (Ypovrixio) magazine |
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Areti Georgili
founder, Free Thinking Zone |
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Dr Tiffany Jenkins
writer and broadcaster; author, Keeping Their Marbles: how treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should stay there |
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Alexis Stamatis
author, playwright and poet; author, Bar Flaubert |
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Chair: | |
Claire Fox
director, Academy of Ideas; panellist, BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze; author, I Find That Offensive |