Odysseas Elytis: The Poet of the Aegean
March 30th – April 3rd 2016, Thessaloniki
The 5th International Student Literature Conference was titled Odysseas Elytis: Poet of the Aegean,” and organized by Zografeio Lykeio of Istanbul and Mandoulides Schools of Thessaloniki, under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Because of the recent tragic events in Istanbul at that time, the conference was held at Mandoulides Schools in Thessaloniki, from March 30th to April 3rd, and was dedicated to His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch and the 25 years of his work. Some 300 students and teachers from 18 public and private schools of Greece, Cyprus, the U.S., and Istanbul met with prominent academics, writers, actors and journalists.
It was a unique journey on the wings of a dream, with “art, luck, and courage” over the universal roads mapped out by the work of our great poet Odysseas Elytis. The conference theme was multifaceted and compelling. Particular reference was made to the universality of Elytis and the Byzantine echoes of his great work, “Axion Esti.” Issues relating to the translations of his poetry, to numerology, solar metaphysics, and the artistic measure of the poet, as well as to Elytis’ theoretical thinking, and to his unique literary language were analyzed and discussed.
