By Pamela Rontziokos.
The first ever Children’s Greek Bilingual Book Fair in Marrickville, Sydney was a huge success with around 500 people in attendance.
The book fair, held at the Addison Road Community Organisation Gumbramorra Hall, showcased Eleni Elefterias three new children’s books: My grandmother is a musician, When will you play with me? And I want to learn Greek.
John Nikolakopoulos’ new book, Meet the Grammatakia, was also launched on the day.
During the Book Fair, there was a video premiere of Ms Elefterias’ book I want to learn Greek. The author also read her books to the young children and parents in attendance. Dozens of books were sold as parents and the children shopped around the hall for a book of their choice.
“I was amazed by how many people turned up to the first ever Children’s Greek Bilingual Book Fair and Book Launch and by all the support for the promotion of the Modern Greek language,” Ms Elefterias told The Greek Herald.
Athanasia Costa and Christine Gazepis Stavropoulos emceed the event, bringing on stage a range of guests who passionately reflected upon the importance of the Greek language.
Primary school students from Clemton Park Public School danced throughout the afternoon and traditional bouzouki music and Greek singing was performed on stage.
Ms Elefterias said the speech by the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Ioannis Mallikourtis, was inspirational and watching primary school kids dance “was an absolute highlight.”
Coffee, tea and koulouria were free and generously provided on the day.Dozens of special guests came to show their support for the Book Fair, including Inner West Councillor, Zoe Tsardoulias, and Artemis Papoutsis-Theodoris from the Afternoon and Saturday Schools of the Greek Orthodox Community of NSW (GOCNSW), among many others.
