Giannis Papadatos    Armando and the soul of books

picture book | 6+
ISBN: 978-960-594-149-9 • Price: 14,00€  • 13 × 20 cm • Pages: 56

 

The book | Armando had never seen a book in his life. […] One day, he began his own journey. Guided by legendary literary heroes, he travelled to the Land of Books beyond the rainbow, where he learned to see the world with new eyes. Inspired by this unforgettable adventure, Armando returned home to fulfil his dream of building a great library for his small town.

Α heartwarming story with an unforgettable hero who inspires a love of books.

The author | Giannis S. Papadatos was born in Kefalonia, Greece. He studied Education and Political Science. He served as a primary school teacher, a Primary Education School Advisor, and later as Professor at the University of the Aegean, where he taught courses on children's and young adult literature. His scholarly interests include literary criticism, reading promotion, and the teaching of literature, with particular emphasis on fiction, informational books, and poetry for children and young adults. He has written extensively for newspapers, journals, and online publications, while his studies and articles have appeared in academic journals and edited volumes in Greece and abroad.  He has played an active role in promoting children's literature and reading in Greece. His contribution has been recognized with the IBBY Greece Award for Reading Promotion (1998) and the Penelope Delta Award (2016) for his overall contribution to children's literature.

Photini Stephanidi Painter, illustrator, engraver
Born in Greece in 1962, the artist and illustrator Photini Stephanidi - daughter of the painter Yannis Stephanidis - completed her studies in painting and fresco at the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1986, where her teachers included painters of international repute such as Giannis Moralis, Dimitris Mytaras and Constantine Xinopoulos. Since 1988 she has exhibited her work in more than twenty individual and many group and international exhibitions of painting, engraving and illustration both in Greece and abroad. Her pictures have featured in about a hundred of published works, including editions of Greek folk tales, literature and poetry, and she has made a speciality of collectors’ editions. Notable among the many prizes and distinctions her work has gained in the fields of engraving, illustration and, more recently, as an author, are the Bratislava Illustrators’ Biennale Plaque (2001), the Greek State Prize for Illustration (2003, 2007 and 2011), the Belgrade Illustrators’ Biennale ‘Golden Pen’ (2005 and 2013) and 'Plaquette' (2010), the first prize for illustrations from the Greek Section of IBBY (1995, 2005 and 2011), EBGE prize and mention 2007 and 2013, her selection as the Hellenic Republic’s candidate for the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Prize, and for the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards. In 2023 she was chosen to create the poster for International Children’s Book Day which will represent Greece and achieve world-wide circulation.