Iphigenia Mastrogianni Τhe Tale with Forgotten Words

picture book | 8+
ISBN: 978-960-219-269-6 • Price: 12,68€ • 14x21cm. • Pages: 80

The book | Grandma Philanthi lives in a village on the Zalongos mountain with her cat Kervos, the neighbours and the scenery to keep her company. An unexpected visit by her grand-daughter Anthi brings joy into her life but she soon comes to realize that sadness clouds the face of the girl she loves so much. And it is then that she will search for the tale with forgotten words, so she can tell her the story that all of us know but have forgotten in the noisy rush of modern life.

The author | Iphigenia Mastrogianni studied Greek Language and Literature at the University of Athens. She has had stories and articles on educational subjects published in newspapers and magazines. In 1997 she was awarded first prize in the Ipektsi competition for her collected poems «The Temple of Summer», while her book for both children and adults «The Tale with Forgotten Words» was included in the White Ravens list. Her stories for young people are distinguished by their high standard of writing, the wealth of messages they hold for the reader and their awareness of social problems.

Included in the 2013 White Ravens list

A sensitive, youthful book, written with sweetness and delicacy, that not only gives us a vivid impression of the tender yet respectful relationship between an old lady and her granddaughter but brings back images and feelings from a dear  but long-forgotten past. Photini Stephanidi’s illustrations are an added miracle. Every page is a discovery and every picture a revelation.
Εleni Sarantiti, diastixo.gr

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.