Its official opening 41st Thessaloniki Book Festival, which this year is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, took place tonight at the City Beach, next to the White Tower. This year’s event, which will end on July 10, is attended by 200 publishers, while there are more than 40,000 book titles on the stands of the Festival stands.

Welcoming the official opening of the Festival, the Deputy Minister of Interior (Macedonia-Thrace) Stavros Kalafatis pointed out that the book is a stable and irreplaceable value, and added: in the recent history of our Nation, highlights your concern to keep alive the memory of the violent uprooting of Hellenism from its prehistoric hearths, Asia Minor and the Pontus. At the same time, it proves that this great wound in the body of our modern History continues to inspire the creators of civilization, whose work transmits to the new generations the principles, values ​​and ideals that shine our course through the centuries. It emphasizes the power of letters and culture in the history of Hellenism and the preservation of our national consciousness. He reminds at the same time that the Asia Minor area, a little bit of Greek philosophy, science, arts and Orthodoxy may have its light after 1922, but the Asia Minor within a few years, to take root and prosper again in the new homeland, in land of Macedonia, in the land of metropolitan Greece “.

“The Ministry and Sports are very happy to be present at the Book Festival, an institution that has completed 41 years, a fact not insignificant for its timelessness but also the acceptance and love of the public for it,” said the Secretary General of Contemporary Culture Eleni Dundoulaki.

The governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas congratulated the president of the Publishers Association of Northern Greece, Charalambos Barbounakis and their associates because they managed to upgrade and grow the Festival that has been starring for 41 years in Thessaloniki. “The presence of the Secretary General of Contemporary Culture shows that the State understands the importance of supporting such Festivals, especially when proven after 41 years and with the support of the people, it gives its mark from Thessaloniki” added Mr. Tzitzikostas

The mayor of Thessaloniki, Konstantinos Zervas, noted that the Book Festival together with the Film Festival are constant values ​​for the culture in the city. “Let all the people of Thessaloniki come this summer to enjoy over 200 publishers, over 40,000 volumes of books in a real feast of a library of production and knowledge and culture” noted Mr. Zervas.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

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