Our Next Event:
The Jornadas Homericas is a week-long celebration of Homer in Montevideo, Uruguay.
May 17 - 22, 2010. It will be the biggest celebration of Homer in the history of Latin America. We are deeply honored by our sponsors, our readers, participating artists, singers, dancers, speakers and the entire community.
Clickhereor on the image above to read more about our extensive calendar of events.
The Readers of Homer
A 501 (c)3 non-profit interenational literary event company that produces day-long or night-long audience-participation
readings of The Iliad or The Odyssey at home and abroad, in locations humble and sublime.
UPCOMING EVENTS
FEATURED EVENT HOMER DAYS • KOS ISLAND, GREECE • AUGUST 1 - 8, 2010
After tremendous success around the world and most recently in Montevideo, Uruguay, Days of Homer returns to Greece! As part of the 'Hippokrateia Festival' on Kos island, The Readers of Homer is presenting an exciting cycle of events, from the 1st to the 8th of August 2010.
Highlights of the festival include a marathon night-long reading/singing of the Odyssey by 200 participants of all ages and backgrounds in 20 languages, a world pre-screening of the documentary 'Odysseus in America' by Charles Berkowitz, exciting theatrical performances, round table discussions, book presentations and music concerts, all dedicated to Homer's great epics.. Click the picture at left to get details.
The Readers of Homer (TROH) is a non-profit, tax exempt, organization that provides a method for reading Homer’s epics aloud, in a continuous and smooth audience-participation format, with people of all ages and backgrounds offering their pre-assigned passages, all day or all night long, in venues both humble and sublime, in the U.S. and abroad.
The purpose is to remember and revivify The Iliad and The Odyssey, to hear, speak and appreciate great poetry, to honor translators of any language who have given so much to perpetuate Homer; and to share, with a hitherto unassembled community, the joy, richness and relevance of these two magnificent Greek epics.
A WORD FROM THE FOUNDER - Kathryn Hohlwein
In the age of the quick and easy, I propose the long and difficult.
A direct attack on the culture of sound-bites, our organization aims to rekindle the need for, and the potency of, masterful language that is deeply considered and long attended to.
Our method is simple. We read The Iliad or The Odyssey continuously and smoothly, in marathon sessions that last from 7 to 15 hours, all day or all night long. The Reading is a group participation that borders on ritual, steeped as it is in the long history of oral tradition and of Homer, in particular. The Readers are the audience. They have been given passages in advance and, one by one, they build the power of the experience as they carry the narrative and its meaning, in their own individual voices, throughout the long hours of the Reading. It is an effort for participants, and in the end, an achievement.
There are only two rules for Readers: they may not apologize and they may not comment. Only Homer comments. And how. Dis tant from us as Homer is, he understands the travails of our world and has much to say about violence and peace, about imagination, integrity, sacrifice, and living. He is “the first poetic voice, blazing out of the dark”.
I believe it is important for people to read poetry aloud. I believe it is better to read aloud to others. It places participants in the continuity of tradition; they learn from one another to care more about the words, their music and their implications, and quickly feel themselves as part of something both ancient and enduring, beautiful and relevant.
The Readers of Homer have, as a major part of their intention, to honor the mostly unsung heroes and heroines who bring to us great art written in a language not our own. This desire requires much extra effort, as time and again, we seem to start from the beginning to edit for our readings one or another version of THE ILIAD or THE ODYSSEY.
But we know that thranslators deserve to be heard, that their heartfelt, learned work is indispensable to the work that we do, that in every tongue there are scholar/ poet/ professor/ translators who devote years of their lives to bringing works that they value to us, in whatever tongue we use. Some translations aspire beyond any other consideration to be faithful to the original. Some are more interested in making a worthwhile replica of the original that works especially in the second language. Some want to play with the material -- to experiment and to delight us by invention. Some veer far away from the original into "versions of " or "adaptations of" whatever was the first inspiration. We try to bring a non-judgmental attitude to this variety, to honor translators in whatever measure they honor the first cause.
In general, there are principles we try to follow. We use only reasonably recent translations, since, because we aspire to a democratic approach, the work must be accessible,and easily readable, by the eclectic audiences who wish to participate in our readings. We want children to be able to read and understand the works. This requires a familiar diction and a recognizable emphasis on words. It would not serve Homer to have him read hesitantly or awkwardly. We seek some level of professional respect and , hopefully, admiration from classicists.
Given time, money, and energy, we would do many different versions, experiment with differing experiments. We would love to read Alexander Pope's beautiful translation or Christopher Logue's wild one but constraints make this difficult. Perhaps one day we will create a medley of sorts, with Chapman, Pope, Butler, Rees, Fitzgerald, Lattimore, Fagles, Graves, Lambardo and Merrill all represented. And there are always others we do not want to neglect. Translations of Homer proliferate, in many languages and we appreciate them all and all the dedication that they evidence.
After years of University teaching, of world wide travel and continuous writing and editing, k.H. has found her time fully occupied by her non profit organization, The Readers of Homer, Inc. which keeps her busy and fascinated with great poetry, and the shared reading of it. Although the performances have her traveling to all kinds of venues in the world, she resides in Northern California the rest of the time.
Born in the Rocky Mountains, in Salt Lake City, Utah, she always enjoyed both nature and literature. She graduated from the University of Utah in English, Philosophy and French and went on to the Bread Loaf School of English, of Middlebury College in Vermont for her Master's Degree. After a Fulbright Travel Grant to France, where she studied Philosophy at the University of Rennes, in Brittany, and after a summer of Spanish study at the University of Santander, in Spain, she married Hans-Jurgen Hohlwein, a German artist and they taught English and Art in Beirut, Lebanon, where their son, Reinhard, was born. After a year's retreat in Scotland, they moved to the United States where they taught in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio before moving to Sacramento and the California State University there. They had two more children: Andrea, and Laura and all three children became artists or scholars.
Professor Hohlwein taught at Universities for her entire adult life, specializing in Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Poetry in Translation, Creative Writing, and Homer. She traveled extensively and wrote almost continuously. She still does.
Born in Constantinople and raised in Athens, Yannis Simonides is a Yale Drama School trained actor/writer and Emmy-winning documentary producer. He has served as professor and chair of the NYU Tisch SOA Drama Department, as executive producer of Greek Orthodox Telecommunications (GOTelecom) and as the executive director of Hellenic Public Radio COSMOS FM in New York. He is the founder and director of the Greek Theater (Elliniko Theatro) in New York and of Mythic Media, a performing arts lab.
His performance work, past and ongoing, includes plays by Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Brecht, Korres, Kambanellis and others, along with solo and ensemble pieces culled from the writings of C.P. Cavafy, General Makriyannis, Nikolai Gogol and others. He has received the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Greek Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, The A. S. Onassis, I. Kostopoulos, S. Niarchos, M. Tsakos and A. G. Levendis Foundations, IBM, Time Warner and the Mobil Foundation. He co-produced Mikis Theodorakis 75th Birthday Celebration at Lincoln Center with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and has been associated with the Annual Festival of Greek Music and Dance at Symphony Space in New York City, presented by the World Music Institute and AD&M Productions. He narrated the PBS specials Axion Esti, Visions of Greece and Return to the Homeland. He recently wrote and directed SMYRNE, a docudrama on the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe which is scheduled to tour North America in 2009-10.
Since 2004 he has performed the Apology, in Greek and in English, at theatres, festivals, universities and communities in the USA, the UK, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Canada, the United Emirates and Uruguay, and is scheduled to take it on tour in Russia, Australia, Spain and Japan. As a founding member of The Readers of Homer, he has staged marathon audience-participation readings/celebrations of the Iliad and Odyssey at Daskalopetra in Chios, at the Library of Alexandria and the Dahesh Museum of New York, in Greek, Arabic, English, Spanish, Chinese, Dutch, Russian and Swahilili, and is scheduled to bring the ROH to Montevideo, Sydney, San Francisco, Paris, and again to Chios, Alexandria and New York. He was recently honored by the prefecture of Athens as Ambassador of Hellenism 2009 for his lifelong service to Greek arts and letters worldwide.
Laura Hohlwein has been a professional artist, poet, teacher, and designer since 1989. She has had fourteen solo exhibitions and has participated in more than twenty group exhibitions in the United States and Europe, including participation by nomination in the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy in 1999. She is represented in California by Solomon Dubnick Gallery, in New York City by Rene Fathoui and in New Jersey by Jacklyn Kling.
She has published poems in several small literary journals, including The Green Mountain Review, Poetry Miscellany and The Eleventh Muse. She has given numerous public readings and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She was interviewed by August Coppolla on a PBS T.V. Special : "Committing Life Through Art" in 1992 and was a featured Reader at the Moscone Center in the San Francisco Bay Area Book Fair 1994. See artwork and read poetry samples at www.hohlwein.com
Ms. Hohlwein was the recipient of two teaching grants from the California Arts Council for her work with prison inmates in the Arts-in-Corrections program and won a New Works grant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission for work with painting and video. She is working on art direction, curating and event planning for The Readers of Homer. She is shooting and editing a documentary on these international events.
Laura Hohlwein did undergraduate work at Oberlin College, McGill University, CSUS, The International School of Art in Umbria, Italy . She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College and an MFA in New Media from Transart Institute of Danube University, Austria. Currently she is a full-time faculty member at the Art Institute of California and also teaches video editing at American River College.
Renée Baigell, a student of comparative literature with a special interest in Russian literature and culture, spent part of her childhood in the Russian north and in the Caucasus. Along with her husband, Matthew Baigell, a professor of art history at Rutgers University who has published widely in the field of American art, she co-wrote, "Soviet Dissident Artists: Interviews After Perestroika."
Writes Donald Kuspit, Professor of Art, History, and Philosophy, SUNY, Stony Brook, and author of Leon Golub: Existential/Activist Painter, "[This book is] "a rich source of information about contemporary Russian art, unique of its kind. The Baigells have done major interpretive as well as documentary work. Their interviews reveal the pathos of being an artist in the USSR, and the fortitude necessary to be a good one."--Donald Kuspit, Professor of Art, History, and Philosophy, SUNY, Stony Brook.
Raymond J. Dowd is an alumnus of Fordham Law School, Class of '91. His legal career has taken him to France, Italy, and finally New York City, where he began his own practice in 1994. He is now a partner in Dowd & Marotta LLC.
Mr. Dowd earned his B.A. in International Studies from Manhattan College in 1986 and a French Language Certificate from the Sorbonne in Paris, France. While attending Fordham Law School, he completed an internship with the Honorable John E. Sprizzo in the Southern District of New York and served as Articles Editor of the Fordham International Law Journal. After Fordham Law, Mr. Dowd spent two years with the law firm of Dobson & Sinisi in Milan, Italy where the firm represented a wide range of U.S., Canadian and Italian corporate clients. His current clients include model agencies, magazines, television networks and broadcasters, film producers, record labels, photographers, artists and designers.
Mr. Dowd has litigated numerous trademark, copyright, music royalty, right of publicity, and defamation cases. Mr. Dowd served as Co-Chairman of the Entertainment Media Intellectual Property and Sports Law Section of the New York County Lawyers Association from 2000-2003. He serves as Chairman of the Federal Litigation Section of the Federal Bar Association (Empire State Chapter). Mr. Dowd writes book reviews and a column for the New York Law Journal.
An accomplished public speaker, Mr. Dowd teaches Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Management at New York University (School of Professional and Continuing Education) and delivers the copyright and Trademark Fundamentals lecture at the New York County Lawyerss Associations Continuing Legal Education Program. Recent lectures include "Troubles With Trademarks" (New York County Lawyers Assn.); "Basics of Trademark Licensing" (MAGIC fashion and apparel show in Las Vegas); "Creating Value for Your Company on the Internet" (Trautman & Wasserman Private Bankers);"Skirting the Issue of Trade Dress: Copyright Law After Wal-Mart v. Samara" (Copyright Society of the U.S.A.), "Models, Fashion Professionals and the Internet: What You Should Know" (Modelwire, Inc.) and "Trademark Law: What You Need To Know in Cyberspace" (New York New Media Association)
OUR BOARD
Kathryn Hohlwein
Founder & President
Yannis Simonides
Vice President & Managing Director
Laura Hohlwein
Creative Director
Renee Baigell
Treasurer
Raymond Dowd, Esq
Legal Counsel
OUR STAFF
Reinhard Hohlwein
Operations Director
Irina Constantine Poulos
Choreographer
Lori Hinrichsen
Database Manager
Michael Genung
Asian Coordinator
ASSOCIATES
Jane Alpert
M.P.A. Principal, Strategies & Writing for Non-Profits
Norman Austin
Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of Arizona
Stephen Daitz
Professor Emeritus of Classics, CUNY
Rachel Hadas,
Poet & Lecturer, Rutgers University/Newark
Thomas Marsh
Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz
Professor William Mullen
Chair, Classics Department, Bard College
Dr. Speros Vryonis
Execuctive Director, Speros Basil Vryonis Center for the Study of Hellenism
1. Go to our "Register" form and send us your information and send your payment by check or paypal if there is a fee for the event. This varies according to location and local custom. When there is a fee it is only to recoup fees required to produce the event.
2. If you will be travelling to a reading, nationally or internationally, please make all arrangements for your own travel. Check our travel links for suggestions.
3. Receive your designated passage to read aloud on the day or night of the event.
4. Go ahead and read the book or just read your passage. Past participants have been known to practice reading aloud in front of their friends and families, or a mirror, or strangers on the subway. Many practiced not at all to no ill effect.
5. Offer to help out, if you like.
6. Spread the word. Tell friends, acquaintances, the press.
7. For the event, consider bringing necessary medications, a stash of chocolate, fuzzy socks.
8. Buy a cup or a t-shirt at the event to get in the mood. Click here for details.
9. You will be given a reader number so you know when your turn will be. We will have complete instructions for making a smooth approach to the microphone. When reading, there are no rules except that you may not comment and you may not apologize. Just read as you do. If you stumble, proceed. No to worry; you are amongst friends.
10. Return to your place in the audience and enjoy our literary fête.
11. Tell us how it went. Share with us your experience. Be well. Contribute to our cause if you can.
To our Friends: We invite you to join our growing number of Friends of The Readers of Homer.
By making a tax-deductible donation you join us in:
• Supporting the literary and cultural enrichment provided by collective readings of Homer;
• Honoring the lifetime efforts of translators in many languages who bring Homer to their countries and beyond;
• Educating people who may not otherwise be exposed to great poetry;
• Subsidizing affordable ticket prices for students and children to our events;
• Teaching the value of reading clearly and well;
• Fostering cross-cultural readings and advancing a sense of world community, culture, art and the humanities.
DONATE
We are continually looking for new locations and audiences - perhaps in your home town, perhaps in a natural setting. Locations for readings should be safe, peaceful, evocative - an environment where 200 or so people could gather for a journey into antiquity.
We hope to find individuals in various locations who would be our point of contact in their area, to be paid as funding allows. As such a person, you would:
• help find a location, indoors or out, that is safe, in some way compelling, and appropriate to the event
• help us secure catering, music, sound equipment, lighting and the other necessities of staging a reading of this duration
• help us find an audience that extends beyond the faithful academia. We have found that simply posting flyers can help us catch fish we otherwise might not have.
• and, ideally, help generate press locally.
Patrick (of The Bibliotheca Alexandrina) and his staff (not shown here) were indispensible
Mitsi. What can we say? Our angel in Chios. Also, deep gratitude to Stathia and Leila (not pictured here) who were as kind as they were thorough. Lasting thanks also to our dear friends Maria, Dimos, the Mayor and our many supporters in Chios.
cups $12
tshirts $16
sweatshirts $25
buy these from us or order from zazzle.com
captain's chairs $35
Make Checks payable to:
601 35th Street
Sacramento, Ca 95816
if buying a chair for an outdoor event (as we strongly recommend), please purchase one-month prior to the reading. thank you.
In the age of the quick and the easy, I propose the long and the difficult. A direct attack on sound bites, the non-profit organization called The Readers of Homer that I have founded aims to rekindle some of the need for and recapture some of the potency of masterful language that is deeply considered and long attended to.
Our method is simple. We read The Iliad or The Odyssey continuously and smoothly, in an edited-to-ten-hours form, all night long. We do not offer theater, or perfomance even. The reading is a group participation that borders on ritual, steeped, as it is, in respect for the long history of great poetry. It is an effort for participants, and in the end, an achievement. The readers are the audience. They have been given passages in advance and, one by one, they build the power of the experience as they carry the narrative, in their own individual ways, throughout the long, dark hours of the night.
There are only two rules for readers: They many not comment, and they may not apologize. Only Homer comments. And how. Distant from us as Homer is, he understands the travails of our world. No one has ever rendered the humanity of the enemy more poignantly and no other masterpiece is based on such an astonishing impartiality.
I believe it is important for people to read poetry aloud. It is better to read aloud to others. It places participants in the continuity of tradition. They learn from one another to care more about the words, the music of the words, their meanings, and quickly feel themselves part of something both ancient and enduring, beautiful and relevant. We hope you will participate with us at our next event.
- Kathryn Hohlwein, President & Founder
Statement by Founder
Donor News
We wish to acknowledge the support of the American Center Alexandria for making the 2008 Alexandria reading possible. Huge gratitude to The California Friends of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and their fund-raising efforts among the Arab American and Muslim American communities in Sacramento. Particular thanks to Dr. Ismail Serageldin for inviting us, Dr. Amin Elmallah, an Alexandrian and the co-founder of the California Friends of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Prof. Rosalie Cuneo Amer, Chair, California Friends of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and Carmela Ruby, Co-Coordinator, California Friends and Co-Organizer of the Alexandria reading.
Once again to thank Mr. Andres A. Mata Osorio, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Pries, The Consul General to Greece of San Francisco, Ms Xenia Stephanidou, and others to remain private. Your contributions have made all the difference.
Thanks also for the support of the Mayor of Omeroupolis in Daskalopetra, Chios and private donors for getting us to your special island and making our Second Annual Event in Chios happen. It was a stunning night and we thank all those who came and participated under that particularly spectacular full moon.
Board Member News:
Yannis Simonides, Advisor-At-Large to the Readers of Homer has been designated World Ambassador of Hellenism 2009 by the Prefecture of Athens (Nomarhia Athinon) for his lifelong service to Greek Arts & Letters worldwide. It is our distinct honor to work with this exceptionally gifted and gracious individual.
Future Possibilities
Aside from posted upcoming events, plans are underfoot for future readings in Kyoto (and possibly Hiroshima), Japan, California, Princeton, New Jersey and Dallas, Texas, just to name a few.
Yannis Simonides - named Ambassador of Hellenism 2009
Links
For an entire week in May 2010, the people of Uruguay gather in their capital city to celebrate their love affair with Homer and Hellenic culture. Initiated and designed by the Readers, organized and sponsored by the Maria Tsakos Foundation of Montevideo,
Jornadas Homericas is centered around marathon Readings of Homers epics by 500 young children and teachers, university students and faculty, along with professionals from across Uruguay, North and South America and Europe, in Spanish, English and Ancient Greek; it also encompasses musical, theatrical, dance and choir performances, concerts and recitals, lectures, seminars, round table discussions, film screenings and art exhibits, open and free to all, on subjects related to Homer and his diachronic relevance and immediacy.
Under the aegis of the UNESCO, the European Commission in Uruguay, the National Academy, the University of the Republic, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Culture and Education of Greece and Uruguay, the Municipality of Montevideo and the National Council of Secondary Education, and with the decisive support of the Andres Mata Foundation and the Tsakos Group of companies, Jorndadas Homericas represents the biggest Homeric celebration in the history of Latin America.
English Press Release
Schedule of Events
Links to International Reviews
of Journadas Homericas
DATE and TIME EVEN T LOCATION
Friday 14/05./10 Inaugural Ceremony Statue of Homer – Athens Square12:00
with planting of olive trees by dignitaries and honorees
Saturday 15/05./10 Premiere of theatrical production – THE ILIAD Theatre Victoria, Río Negro 1479
21.00 By Alessandro Baricco Director: Jorge Curi
Monday 17/05./10 ELECTRA by Euripides Theatre “Espacio Palermo”,
20:00 Montevideo Drama School Isla de Flores 1627
Tuesday 18/05./10 The Journey of Odysseus at Cerro Liceos 11 y 61 del Cerro
10:00 - 15.00 Encyclopedic games & competitions based on t
The Odyssey by students from the immigrrant neighborhoods of Cerro
16.00 The Immediacy of Homer The National Library
Lecture by Prof. Kathryn Hohlwein
18.00 Teaching Homer in Uruguay The National Library
Round table discussion
Society of Secondary Education Literature Teachers
19.00 Observation of stars and constellations with names Observatory - Liceo 61- Cerro
from Greek Mythology
20.00 ELECTRA by Euripides Montevideo Drama School
Wednesday 19/05/10 Marathon Reading of the ILIAD of Homer Amphitheatre Paraninfo –
12.00 - 24..00 by 200 participants University of the Republic of Uruguay
18.00 Laura Mestre, translator of Homer Sala Maggiolo Hall
Leccture by Elina Miranda Cancela University of the Republic of Uruguay
(University of Habana, Cuba)
20.00 ORESTEIA by Aeschylus Espacia Palermon,
Montevideo Darama School Isla de Flores 1627
Thursday 20/05./10 Greece’s contributions to Astronomy The National Observatory
10.30 Presentations by Professors of Astronomy Liceo IAVA - Salón de Actos, Rodó 1875
11.30 - 14:00 Guided Tour at the National Observatory The National Observatory
Liceo IAVA - Salón de Actos, Rodó 1875
14:00 Greek Myths in the Autumn Sky The National Observatory
Presentations by Professors of Astronomy Liceo IAVA - Salón de Actos, Rodó 1875
15.30 The Wrath of Achilles in film Music School Auditorium,
Lecture and screenings by Adrián Castillo University of the Republic of Uruguay
18.30 -21.30 Guided Tour at the National Observatory The National Observatory
Liceo IAVA - Salón de Actos,
20.00 The ORESTIEA by Aeschylus Theatro Espacioi Palermo
Montevideo Drama School Isla de Flores 1627
09.00 - 24.00 Marathon Resding of The ODYSSEY of Homer Amphiteater Paraninfo
by 270 participants University of the Republic of Uruguay
18..00 The Beloved Island: Point of origin an Return Sala Maggio Hall
TLecture by Prof. Miguel Castillo Didier University of the Republic of Uruguay
(University of Santiago Chile)
The ODYSSEY - A Modern Sequel Auditorio “Nelly Goitiño”
by Nikos KazantzakisS SODRE, 18 de Julio 930
Lecure by George Stassinakis, (Pres. International
Society of Friends of Nikos Kazantzakis)
Communal Reading of segments in Greek, English & Spanish
19.00 Closing Ceremony and Concert Auditorio “Nelly Goitiño”
The Choir of the University of the Republic SODRE, 18 de Julio 930
presents “Dizionario Greco” by Czech composer
Petr Eben under the direction of Belgian visiting
conductor Johan Duijck
20.00 Theatrical production – THE ILIAD Theatre Victoria
By Alessandro Baricco Río Negro 1479
Director: Jorge Curi
Amongst participants from across Uruguay and Latin America, we have the pleasure to announce the participation of the following distinguished personalities to the readings:
• Dr. Ricardo Ehrlich, Minister of Education and Culture of Uruguay
• Hayara Rodriguez, Mayor of Montevideo
• Dr. Elsa Borges, Director of Cultural Affairs; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uruguay
• Dr. Julio M.Sanguinetti, Former President of the Republic of Uruguay
• Prof. Jorge Arbeleche, National Academy of Letters, Uruguay
• Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan Writer
• Dr. Fernando Aguerre, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Montevideo
• Guido Scalici, Ambassador of Italy in Uruguay
• Rasha ter Braack, Ambassador of the Netherlands in Uruguay
The Jornadas Homéricas rely on the precious support of the following prestigious organizations:
• Ministry of Education and Culture
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay
• Municipality of Montevideo
• European Commission delegation in Uruguay
• Andrés Mata Foundation (New York)
• University of the Republic of Uruguay
• Navíos S.A.
• Universal Shipping Agency
• Council of Secondary Education and Council of Professional Technical Education
• World Trade Centre Montevideo
• General Iberoamerican Secretariat
• Greek Embassy of Montevideo•
Ministry of Education of Greece and the Coordination Office for Education in Latin America
• Consulate of Cyprus in Mntevideo
• International Association of friends of Nikos Kazantzakis
• National Library
• National Academy of Letters • Association of Literature Professors
• General Secretariat of Uruguay for the UNESCO
• The Hellenic Community of Uruguay
and ... YOU?
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Kos, Greece • August 2010
After tremendous success around the world and most recently in Montevideo, Uruguay, ‘Days of Homer’ return to Greece! As part of the ‘Hippokratia 2010’ festival on Kos island, the Homeric events began a few days ago with the theatrical performance Odyssey by the Karmen Rouggeri troupe, and will continue during the first week of August with a series of cultural and educational events dedicated to Homer and the diachronic value of his works, led by the renowned international literary organization The Readers of Homer.
The central event of the ‘Days of Homer’ is a night-long reading/singing of Homer’s Odyssey which will take place at the Medieval Castle of Kos on Saturday August 7th 2010. 200 readers of all ages and backgrounds, distinguished personalities from all fields, students, foreign visitors and citizens from all over Greece will participate in an impressive 12-hour long marathon reading. The pre-assigned excerpts can be recited or sung in Homeric, Modern Greek, English or any language of the reader's choice, while for the first time, the acclaimed Modern Greek translation by D. Maronitis will be read as well as projected on a special screen, enhanced with related images.
The night-long reading of the Odyssey will begin at 20:00 with an hour of music, a simple dinner and preparations for a night that honours the traditions and artistic achievements of Homer. The event will be enriched with live Ancient Greek music that transports the audience to the times of Odysseus, performed by the unique ensemble Lyravlos - Greek Musical Heritage Centre (www.lyravlos.gr ).
‘The success of the Homeric Readings demonstrated that culture and its values remain valid and can even counteract and overcome all the negatives that pulse in our society’
El País, 25/05/20a10
To participate contact:
Stephania Xydia
Associate Manager & Communications Officer
'Days of Homer 2010'
(0030) 210 32 19 100 (0030) 6934438748
click to send email:omirika2010_gmail.com
Kos Press Release
On August 3rd (23:00) the movie Odyssey: A Love Journey will be presented by film
maker Nikos Alevras, who narrates his journey from Troy to Ithaca as a contemporary Odysseus.
Within the context of 'Homeric Days' and by popular demand Yannis Simonides will
offer a repeat performance of The Apology of Socrates, which was a great success in
Kos in 2009. The Apology will take place at the Roman Odeum on Wednesday August 4th 2010 at 21:00.
On August 5th (19:30) Prof. Kathryn Hohlwein will give a talk on The Immediacy of Homer, which will be followed by a round-table discussion among distinguished academics and teachers from Greece and abroad. All we be open to the public.
On August 8th (19:30), with the support of the National Book Center of Greece, the author Yannis Remoundos will present his work Ach, that Homer!..., a children's book inspired by the Odyssey.
Odysseus in America first world pre-screening by film maker Charles Berkowitz :
'Homeric Days' will have the pleasure to host emerging American film maker Charles Berkowitz, widely known for his documentary Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character based on Dr. Jonathan Shay's groundbreaking book, as well as his reportages for CNN, CBS and 60 minutes. On August 6th 2010 (23:00) Mr. Berkowitz will preview his latest work Odysseus in America, which documents the struggle of contemporary veterans to reintegrate into society after the traumas of war. Weaving together voices of soldiers from Korea to Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, with excerpts from Homers Odyssey, Berkowitz creates a striking parallel between ancient and contemporary times, thus stressing the diachronic value
of Homers work.
The list of participants in the marathon reading is updated daily. Among the readers will be heard:
• His Grace Metropolitan Nathanael of Kos and Nisyros
• Giorgos Nikitiadis Under-Secretary of Culture and Tourism
• Kostas Skandalidis Former Minister of the Interior
• Maria Kypraiou Prefect of Kos and Nisyros Islands
• Giorgos Kyritsis Mayor of Kos
• Prof. Kathryn Holhwein Professor Emeritus of English and Humanities, California State University of Sacramento
• Prof. William Mullen Dept. of Classics, Bard College, New York
• Michael Genung, Professor of English Language and Literature, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
• Margarita Larriera Director of the Maria Tsakos Foundation of Uruguay
• Yannis Simonides Director of the Greek Theatre of New York
Travel Links
http://www.kosinfo.gr/
http://www.kosisland.gr/
http://www.travel-to-kos.com/
92nd Street Y • New York City • November 2010
The venerable New York cultural institution welcomes the Readers in late November 2010, as they come home to roost after a year of extraordinary journeys in the four corners of the world.
Eminent authors, filmmakers, composers, choreographers and dancers, painters and singers, join 200 Readers in an unprecedented cornucopia of literary and artistic expression inspired by Homer and his enduring relevance.
In the splendor of Buttenwieser Hall, fortified by mulled wine and Homeric victuals, the participants listen to the lilting tones of the minstrels song, as lifelong students of the epic archaic sound offer segments of the Odyssey in the original.
To Be Announced
Getty Villa • Malibu, California • April 2011
On Saturday, April 30, 2011, the Getty Villa in Malibu, California will host the Readers of Homer in a day-long marathon Reading of the Iliad. One hundred readers and an equal number of audience members will have the privilege of participating in this unique experience in an equally unique setting. Bordered by coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean, the Getty Villa is a museum and educational center that evokes the classical world in both its landscape and architecture. Modeled after the Villa dei Papiri, a first century Roman country house, it is filled with mosaics, marble-encrusted floors and walls, and trompe loeil wall-paintings, and its lush gardens are planted with species from the ancient Mediterranean. Its rich collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities and the exquisite site make it one of the most beautiful museums in the world.
The days program and registration process will be announced on this site and on the Getty website. For advance expression of interest, please email us at info_thereadersofhomer.org.
