The journalist, member of ESIEPIN and TEAS, Stratis Balaskas has been traveling for years now, especially to the Aegean islands and the opposite coasts of Asia Minor. With his texts, many say, those who read him also travel.
As the “eye” of the unforgettable “Eleftherotype” in the Aegean, from 2000 onwards, with the magazine GEO and Geotropio, he made 28 unique trips. Journeys to people, stories and places known and others less known who always with a restless and democratic ethos, always as a humble pilgrim listened to human sounds of the past, the present and sometimes, through them, the future.
These 28 journeys through history and mythology, events and legends captured with authorial mastery are delivered exactly as they were written at the time, in the form of the book “GEOGRAFONTAS” published by “alpha pi” publications.
The presentation of Stratis Balaska’s book will take place on Friday, August 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the courtyard of Halim Bey’s mansion on the Upper Stairs (Municipal Gallery of Mytilene).
The Professor of the Department of Geography of the University of the Aegean, Director of the Museum of Natural History of the Lesbos Petrified Forest Nikos Zouros, the Doctor of the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication of the University of the Aegean Marina Stamati, Dr. Archeology Head of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos Pavlos Triantafyllidis. The debate will be moderated by the journalist Stratis Liarelis. Excerpts will be read by Argyris Hatzimallis.
The foreword of the book is by Vangelis Panagopoulos, former Director of “Eleftherotypia” and “Sunday Freelancer” while it is dedicated “To Seraphim, up there. For what he taught us…”, to the late Seraphim Funtanidis.
You will find the book at the “alpha pi” bookstore at Magaziotissis 5 in Chios, at www.alfapibooks.gr, at the “Hatzidaniil” bookstore, Ermou 19 in Mytilini.
“Eyewitness” in Roman Mytilene, in Smyrna of Agios Vukolos, in Aivali of Ai George of Ambatzis, in Chios with its burnt tower. And then trips up and down the large and small islands of the Aegean and its rocky islands. In festivals, rocky places and painful stories, heroes and fairy tales. And “carsi” like an Asia Minor proud of his roots, again up and down in magical places, in prehistory and in the history of an Achilles in a burnt and trampled Troy, a father in a weary Pergamum, in the pain of a Roman who endures and perseveres. And from here and there, everywhere…
Stratis Balaskas reports on Aegean issues at the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, while he has an almost 40-year career in major media outlets in Lesvos and Athens.
Of particular note is the period of his work at “Eleftherotypia” from 1989 until the final closing of the historic newspaper in 2014. He has been awarded several times for his journalistic work.
On the sidelines of his journalistic research, but also sometimes because of it, he compiled a series of historical studies. Author of children’s novels, he has published poetry collections and books on the history of Lesbos and Aeolian Islands. With rich social activity and dozens of references to him in the Greek and international literature, he has participated in dozens of professional and scientific conferences with his announcements.
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