The Anglo-Hellenic League

Dedicated to promoting Anglo-Greek understanding and friendship, through charitable and cultural work. 

Monday 13 June 2022, 4.30pm

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

River Room, King's Building (second floor), King's College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT the Annual General Meeting for the year ending 31 December 2021 will be held in the River Room at King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS on Monday 13 June 2022 at 4.30pm.

The meeting is open only to members of the League. The agenda and papers for the meeting are attached.

Council of the League

18 May 2022

JUDGES ANNOUNCE THE SHORT LIST FOR 

THE ANGLO-HELLENIC LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022 

At its meeting on 7 April, the judging panel for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2022 agreed its short list for this year’s competition.

Out of the 23 books selected by the judges in January to form their long list, the panel has now picked eight books, published in 2021, as their short list for the final round of judging. 

Peter Frankopan, chair of judges, said: “This has been an exceptionally rich and varied year for the Runciman Award. We have read some astonishingly ambitious books, some covering many thousands of years of history, others re-telling familiar tales in extraordinary new ways, and others still that have captured our hearts, minds and imaginations. The judges deliberated for a long time to select this short list, and we wished we could have honoured even more books this time. We are yet to discuss which of the eight books might win; but we are thrilled by the range and breadth of writers and scholars represented in our short list – taking us from the Siege of Troy through the Byzantine era right up to the present day.”

The Runciman Award is given by The Anglo-Hellenic League annually for the best book published for the first time in English in the previous year about Greece or on a Greek subject. 

The eight short-listed titles are set out below, in alphabetical order (by author):

The judges for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2022 are:

Prof. Peter Frankopan (chair)

Dr Dionysis Kapsalis

Prof. Naoíse Mac Sweeney 

Prof. Judith Mossman

Dr Sofka Zinovieff

The announcement of the winner and award ceremony will take place on Monday 13 June, at 7pm, in the Great Hall of King’s College London, on the Strand.

The award, which is worth £10,000, is sponsored by the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation.

Council of the League

8 April 2022

THE LEAGUE CELEBRATES TIES BETWEEN BRITAIN AND GREECE 

IN AN EVENING OF ANGLO-HELLENIC FRIENDSHIP

PRESS NOTICE

In the presence of a specially invited audience, including the Greek Foreign Minister HE Mr Nikos Dendias, and the Greek Deputy Minister of Culture, Mr Nikolaos Yatromanolakis, and with a virtual audience watching online, the British Ambassador HE Mr Matthew Lodge hosted at the British Residence in Athens an evening of Anglo-Hellenic friendship organised by The Anglo-Hellenic League.

The League, which is a charitable organisation based in London, has existed without interruption since 1913 and promotes friendship and understanding between Britons and Greeks, through cultural and educational activities and through fund-raising for charitable causes in Greece and Britain. The League’s flagship event is the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award, given annually for the best book written in English about Greece or the Hellenic World.

The Chair of the Council of the League, Dr John Kittmer, said: “It is wonderful to celebrate the real and continuing friendship between Britain and Greece. Our event tonight was testimony to the unbreakable cultural and educational links between our two countries. Thanks to the great support of the British Ambassador, Matthew Lodge, and our two main sponsors, the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation, we were able to bring something of the Runciman Award to Athens, through the presence of Roderick Beaton, the 2021 winner, and Joshua Barley, whose work with David Connolly to translate the poetry of Michalis Ganas, was shortlisted by the Runciman judges. I am equally delighted that Dimitris Skyllas, one of the most exciting young musical talents of Greece, has given us the first VIP performance of his three new piano works. As the League looks to expand its activities and its membership base, the raising of our profile in Athens is a sign of our ambition.”

The cultural event consisted of a keynote address and two recitals. 

Prof. Roderick Beaton FBA gave a talk entitled ‘On being a British writer about Greece’. Prof. Beaton commented: “The Runciman Award, administered for almost 40 years by the Anglo-Hellenic League, has a very special significance for anyone who writes in English about Greece, Greek culture, or the wider world of Hellenism. Sir Steven Runciman’s books about Byzantine history and the Crusades set a benchmark for lucid and approachable writing, combined with original scholarship, and as I understand it the Award is intended to encourage this combination of qualities in new writing on those subjects. To win is an extraordinary privilege, to be included on the Award’s longlist or shortlist a mark of recognition that publishers and authors all over the world are proud to acknowledge.”

The first of the recitals was a poetry reading by Joshua Barley of some of the poems of Michalis Ganas translated by Barley and David Connolly in A Greek Ballad (Yale University Press, 2019). The poems were read in Greek by poet and performer Pavlina Marvin. Joshua Barley commented: “To translate literature is to inhabit the world of a writer from another culture. Translating a poet such as Michalis Ganas, who engages so deeply with his country’s history and traditions, opens the deep and rich resources of Greek culture to English-speaking readers. I am delighted that the Anglo-Hellenic League decided to celebrate his work in Greek and English.” 

The cultural programme ended brilliantly with a piano recital by Dimitris Skyllas of three new works composed by him: Triptych,The Balcony Scene and The Dark Ballad. Dimitris Skyllas commented: “Born and raised in Greece and a citizen of London, tonight I felt that I am creating a musical bridge, a dialogue between the two cultures. I was honoured to be surrounded by special individuals who represent the best qualities of both countries and to me, this feels like home.”

Salutations were given by the Greek Foreign Minister, the British Ambassador and representatives of the Laskaridis and Leventis foundations.

The evening, taking place under the patronage of the British Ambassador, was sponsored by the A. C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, with additional sponsorship by Akrathos Newlands Winery.

The full press notice is attached.