The Hellenic Lyceum of Sydney launched its inaugural book club on Sunday, November 27 to mark the centenary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
The first-ever book club was held at St Basil’s in the Sydney suburb of Randwick and was attended by a number of descendants of Asia Minor refugees and VIP guests, including the Consul General of Greece in Sydney Ioannis Mallikourtis and the President of the Hellenic Lyceum of Sydney Liana Vertzayias.
Formal proceedings began on the day with a speech by Ms Vertzayias welcoming everyone to the event and congratulating Tina Contos and Eleni Kandylas-Mallios for their initiative in co-organising the book club.
Mr Mallikourtis spoke of the how literature can play an important role in helping to maintain the history of the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
From there, Ms Contos took to the stage and began to engage the audience in a detailed discussion on one of the three books being reviewed on the day – The Thread by Victoria Hislop.
During her discussion, Ms Contos stressed the importance of listening to the stories of descendants from Asia Minor and linking these memories with historical novels.
Next to give a book review was Ms Kandylas-Mallios who speak about the Land of Aeolia by Ilias Venezis. Antonia Nikolopoulou reviewed the book Matromena Xromata by Dido Sotiriou.
Irene Tsenkas also gave a talk on costumes from the regions related to the Asia Minor Catastrophe, whilst an over 90-year-old descendant shared her family’s personal migration story.
These formal proceedings concluded with mingling amongst everyone in attendance, as well as an afternoon tea of food from the Asia Minor region.
*All photos copyright The Greek Herald.
