The Anglo-Hellenic League

Prof. Kevin Featherstone in Conversation

Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award 2023 Award Ceremony &

Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Lecture 2023

The Council Room (K2.29), King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Tuesday 13 June 2023, 6pm

In partnership with the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London, the annual award ceremony and lecture for the Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award 2023 were held. 

This year's prize of £500 was won by Oliver Graham for the dissertation 'Guilt and Sickness: Reading an Addiction Narrative in Euripides' Orestes'. Congratulations to Oliver!

After the ceremonials were over, the annual Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Lecture took the form of a conversation between Prof. Kevin Featherstone, Director of the Hellenic Observatory at the LSE, and Dr John Kittmer, Chair of the League, about Prof. Featherstone’s academic career tracking the ins and outs, the ups and downs of the Greek political scene. 

Council of the League

21 June 2023

David Harsent, Chiara Ambrosio, David Ricks, Gonda Van Steen and John Kittmer 

Yannis Ritsos: new English translations and visualisations

including a tribute to Edmund Keeley

The Council Room, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Monday 12 June 2023, 6pm

Yannis Ritsos (1909-1990) was one of the greatest Greek poets of the twentieth century and has achieved worldwide acclaim. A prolific writer (in both poetry and prose), he lived some of the most tumultuous moments in recent Greek history. In the 1930s, his work was banned by the Metaxas dictatorship. The Greek military junta (1967-1974) proscribed his published work and prevented him from publishing new work. None of this stopped his prodigious writing. During the junta, when he was imprisoned and under house arrest, he smuggled his work overseas for publication beyond Greek shores. His fame grew: those years saw increasing international interest in and translation of Ritsos’s work. After the fall of the Colonels, he resumed his publishing career in full, writing until his death in 1990.

At this event, we introduced and discussed two new books of Ritsos’s work in English. In March, the award-winning poet David Harsent published A Broken Man in Flower: Versions of Yannis Ritsos, intro. John Kittmer (Hexham: Bloodaxe, 2023). In May, a new edition of Paul Merchant's translation of Ritsos’s Monochords was published, featuring linocut responses by Chiara Ambrosio, and a foreword by David Harsent (London: Prototype, 2023). Our event included an introduction by John Kittmer, readings and illustrations by David Harsent and Chiara Ambrosio, and a panel discussion of these new works, chaired by Professor David Ricks. It was be preceded by a tribute by Gonda Van Steen, David Ricks and John Kittmer to Edmund Keeley (1928-2022), who was himself one of Ritsos’s most compelling translators into English.

Council of the League

21 June 2023

Konstantinos Alsinos 

‘The Wound of the World: Readings and Discussion’

Bush House (Lecture Theatre 1), King’s College London 

30 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BG

Friday, 2 June 2023, 7pm

Konstantinos Alsinos, author of a new crime novel, Η πληγή του κόσμου (The Wound of the World), was in discussion with Prof. Gonda Van Steen, Koraes Professor, about the novel. 

Actors Kyriaki Mitsou and Dimitra Bakalyianni read from the book in Greek. Translations into English were provided. 

Council of the League

11 June 2023

Julian Hoffman

Prespa, a Crossroads Place: On the natural and human communities of the transboundary lakes region  

Friends Room, Hellenic Centre, 16/18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Wednesday, 3 May 2023, 7pm

In front of a large audience, the environmentalist and author, Julian Hoffman, spoke passionately about the Prespa Lakes. Julian’s illustrated talk focused on the lakes’ ecological significance and on environmental issues, the work of ecologists and the local community in protecting that abundance, and the transboundary complexity of the region. Extensive Q&A followed. 

Council of the League

12 May 2023

Dr Iain Gordon Brown FSA FRSE

‘Edinburgh as the Athens of the North’ 

Friends Room, Hellenic Centre, 16/18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Tuesday, 7 March 2023, 7pm 

In the years between about 1810 and 1850, Edinburgh – long and affectionately known as ‘Auld Reekie’ – came to think of itself and to be widely regarded as something else. The city became ‘Modern Athens’, or subsequently ‘the Athens of the North’. This phrase is well-known, but tends to disguise the often confused and contradictory messages hidden within the convenience of a trite term. In front of a large audience at the Hellenic Centre, Dr Iain Gordon Brown gave a richly illustrated lecture, about the concept and reality of Edinburgh as the Athens of the North. 

Council of the League

3 April 2023

Private Tour of

‘Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth’

led by Dr Peter Toth (curator)

The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB 

Thursday, 16 February 2023, 8.30am

On 16 February, a party of members and supporters of the League was given a tour of the British Library's exibition on Alexander the Great. The tour was led by Dr Peter Toth (Curator of Ancient and Mediaeval Manuscripts) and took place before the exhibition opened that day to the public and to ticket-holders. Dr Toth gave us a fascinating and lively tour of the exhibition, which was appreciated by all. 

The exhibition itself closed on Sunday 19 February. 

Council of the League

28 February 2023

In Conversation with Prof. John Bennet (University of Sheffield)

Friends Room at the Hellenic Centre 

16/18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Wednesday 23 November 2022, 7pm 

Concluding the League’s programme of talks and events for 2022, John Kittmer, was in conversation with Prof. John Bennet. From October 2015 to September 2022, Prof. Bennet was Director of the British School at Athens. He has subsequently returned to his post as Professor of Aegean Archaeology at the University of Sheffield at the end of his seven years in Greece. His research interests lie in early writing and administrative systems (especially Linear B), and the integration of material and textual data to understand societies and landscapes in the distant and more recent past. 

This event took place in person only, without live broadcast or recording. 

Council of the League

24 November 2022

Prof. Michael Wood (University of Manchester)

‘The Marvellous Journey of Theodore of Tarsus’

Friends Room at the Hellenic Centre, 

16/18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Thursday, 29 September 2022, 7pm 

Using fascinating manuscript evidence, Michael Wood told the story of Theodore of Tarsus (c.602-690AD) and his comrade Hadrian the African (630/7-710AD), who introduced Greek culture to England in the seventh century in ‘one of the most important educational programmes ever undertaken in Britain’.

Council of the League

10 October 2022

Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award Ceremony 2022 & Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Lecture 2022

Roderick Beaton In Conversation:

The Greeks: A Global History

The Council Room, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Monday 27 June 2022, 6pm

We are pleased to announce, in partnership with the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College London, that the winner of the Katie Lentakis Award 2022 is Juliette Quatre for her dissertation 'An analysis of the theological and philosophical syncretism regarding the daimones' natures and operations in the Greek magical papyri'. Congratulations to Juliette and to the runners-up Charlotte Ellery and Mark Selby.

The annual Katie Lentakis Lecture took the form of a conversation between Prof. Roderick Beaton FBA FKC and Dr John Kittmer, Chair of the League, about Prof. Beaton’s latest book: The Greeks: A Global History.

Council of the League

11 July 2022

Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award Ceremony 2022 

sponsored by the A. C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation & the A. G. Leventis Foundation

Keynote speech by Prof. Richard Hunter FBA

‘Those who do not know the sea’: Homer and the margins of the Greek world

Monday 13 June 2022, 7pm

Great Hall, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS

and online

Under the joint sponsorship of the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award Ceremony 2022 took place on 13 June, in the presence of the League's Chief Patron and President, HRH Prince Michael of Kent. 

Since 1986, the Award has rewarded annually the best book or books published the previous year in English about some aspect of Greece. The Award this year went to Ian Collins for John Craxton: A Life of Gifts (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2021).

The keynote speech was given by Prof. Richard Hunter FBA on 'Those who do not kinow the sea: Homer and the margins of the Greek world'. Prof. Peter Frankopan reviewed the judging of this year's competition and announced the winner. Ian Collins gave his acceptance speech as winner and presented the winning book. Welcome addresses were given by Prof. Marion Thain and Dr John Kittmer; the concluding remarks were made by Prof. Gonda Van Steen.

Dr Christos Tsirogiannis (University of Aarhus, Denmark)

‘Stolen antiquities: Investigating known unknowns

in the international market’

Zoom Webinar

Monday, 9 May, 6pm (BST)

Since 1994, the discoveries and confiscations of photographic and documentary archives from notorious and convicted dealers of illicit antiquities have rocked the antiquities market and its clients, and laid the foundations for a new discipline within archaeology. Forensic archaeological research on these archives has offered for the first time concrete evidence of the existence and operation of an international trafficking network. Starting from the historical background, this talk proceeded to examine selected cases of illicit antiquities, presenting step by step all the relevant photographic and other evidence. Dr Tsirogiannis concluded by outlining the state of the field today, noting possibilities for further research, and offering a sense of what is to be expected in future from museums, auction houses, dealers’ galleries and private collectors.

Dr Christos Tsirogiannis is a forensic archaeologist specializing in the research of international trafficking networks of antiquities. He has a BA in Archaeology and History of Art from the University of Athens. Before coming to the UK for his PhD at the University of Cambridge, he worked as an archaeologist in Greece, and volunteered for four years with the Greek police art squad. He gained a postdoctoral position with the ERC-funded project, ‘Trafficking Culture’, at the University of Glasgow, and then became a Senior Field Archaeologist at the University of Cambridge Archaeological Unit. Tsirogiannis is currently an Associate Professor and Research Fellow at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

A video recording of the event is attached below.

Council of the League

10 May 2022

ANCIENT GREEKS: SCIENCE AND WISDOM

Science Museum:

Private Exhibition Viewing

Rescheduled to Friday 8 April 2022, 9am

On 8 April, members and supporters of the League enjoyed a private viewing of the Science Museum’s free exhibition Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom, which had opened on 17 November 2021. The viewing was led by Dr Jane Desborough, Curator of Scientific Instruments at the Science Museum and Lead Curator of the exhibition. The exhibition set out to reveal how this ancient civilization questioned, contemplated, and debated the natural world. Through the intellectual fusion of the arts, science and religion, ancient Greek thinkers sought to understand the world in a logical and mathematical way. From the stars in the night sky to the multitude of animals in the sea, visitor are invited to discover the significance of their insights through iconic sculptures,  musical instruments and more. New knowledge about the ancient Greeks is on display through the latest scientific research and through objects and artworks steeped in history, brought together in the UK for the first time.

Council of the League

12 April 2022  

An Evening of Anglo-Hellenic Friendship

Zoom Webinar

Thursday 10 March: participation by Zoom at 7.30pm (EET) / 5.30pm (GMT)

The event took place in front of a specially invited audience in Athens, under the patronage of the British Ambassador to Greece, H.E. Mr Matthew Lodge. A large audience watched online (see below for recording on YouTube).

The programme was as follows:

Welcome (7.30pm (EET), 5.30pm (GMT))

Dr John Kittmer, Chair of the Council of the League

Salutations

Keynote Address

* On being a British writer about Greece *

Prof. Roderick Beaton FBA

Recitals

* Poetry Reading *

Joshua Barley and Pavlina Marvin, reading Michalis Ganas

* Piano Recital *

Triptych - VIP World Premiere 

The Balcony Scene - VIP World Premiere 

The Dark Ballad - VIP World Premiere 

Dimitris Skyllas

Our warm thanks and appreciation go to: The British Ambassador to Greece, H.E. Mr Matthew Lodge; The A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation; The A.G. Leventis Foundation; Akrathos Newlands Winery; our performers; Mrs Katerina Korompli & the staff of the British Residence for making this evening of friendship possible.

Notes on participants:

Roderick Beaton grew up in Edinburgh and studied English Literature at Cambridge, before specialising in Modern Greek studies. For thirty years until his retirement he held the Koraes Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King’s College London, and is now Emeritus. Roderick is the author of several books of non-fiction, one novel, and several translations of fiction and poetry, all of them connected to Greece and the Greek-speaking world. He is a four-time winner of the Runciman Award, and his books have been shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Cundill History Prize. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), a Fellow of King’s College (FKC), and Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic. From 2019 to 2021 he served as a member of the Committee “GREECE 2021”, charged by the Greek government with overseeing events commemorating the 200^th anniversary of the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821, and from September to December 2021 as A.G. Leventis Visiting Professor in Greek at the University of Edinburgh. From February 2022 he is Chair of the British School at Athens for a four-year term. His latest book, The Greeks: A Global History, was published by Faber in the UK and by Basic Books in the USA in November 2021; a Greek translation will be published by Patakis in autumn 2022. 

Joshua Barley’s translations of Michalis Ganas (with David Connolly) were published by Yale University Press as A Greek Ballad and shortlisted for the Runciman Award in 2021. In summer 2022, he is due to publish the first translations of modern Greek folk songs in over a century with Aiora Press. 

Pavlina Marvin was born in Athens in 1987, but grew up in Hermoupolis, Syros. Her first book, Stories From All Around My World, was published by Kichli Publishing in 2017 and received the Yannis Varveris Prize from the Hellenic Authors Association. As a writer and performer, she has participated in a wide range of interdisciplinary art projects and festivals.

Between an intellectual creative and a pop persona, Dimitris Skyllas is one of the most dynamic composers of his generation internationally. His work is influenced by values such as traditional rituals, laments and religious music, while it contributes to the fields of theatre, contemporary dance, visual arts and currently cinema. He often appears as a soloist of his piano music, while many of his pieces are performed by world-class performers. After his UK debut at Westminster Abbey in 2016, he appeared at the V&A Museum, the Royal Albert Hall and the British Ceramics Biennale. In Greece, the Onassis Foundation invited him to perform his piano piece “Abyss” at the first public appearance of Maria Callas’ historical piano. In 2018 he composed the original score for the tragedy “Electra,” staged at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus by the National Theatre of Greece. With “Kyrie Eleison” (2020), co-commissioned by the BBC and Onassis  Stegi, he becomes the first Greek composer to write for the BBC Symphonic Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. As a consequence of his career path, Skyllas' life and music will become a full-length documentary film, produced by the Onassis Foundation (2022). The composer has also contributed the original soundtrack of the film.

Thursday 10 February 2022, 6pm 

Chris Thomas & Peter Desmond (FOMA)

‘Walking adventures on the Holy Mountain’

Zoom Webinar

- jointly with the Friends of Mount Athos -

Mount Athos, the home of Orthodox spirituality and monasticism, has been in existence for at least 1,200 years. Home to over 2,000 monks, in twenty glorious monasteries filled with treasures, the peninsula is a truly extraordinary place currently undergoing a resurgence, with a growing population of monks, a tangible and visible sense of purpose and an environment underpinned by spirituality, love and affection. In this richly illustrated talk, Chris Thomas and Peter Desmond spoke warmly and knowledgeably about pilgrimage on the Holy Mountain and about the twenty-year efforts of the Friends of Mount Athos to clear and maintain the paths for pilgrims and monks to use. A video of the talk is available on our YouTube channel (see below).

Council of the League

11 February 2022

JUDGES ANNOUNCE LONG LIST

FOR

THE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022 

PRESS NOTICE

The judging panel for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award, given annually for a book about Greece, has agreed a long list of 23 books for the competition in 2022.

Out of 62 books submitted for the Award, the judges selected 23 to form their long list. The list, which covers books published globally in English in 2021, includes books on history, archaeology, reception of antiquity, biography, literature, philosophy and myth, plus novels, travel-writing and literary translations. The books selected span the Greek experience from antiquity to the contemporary world.

Peter Frankopan, chair of judges, said: 

It is great to see such a strong and exciting set of submissions for this year’s award. There are some heavyweight names on this longlist whose works have captured the imagination, and also a few dark horses in contention. As a panel, we were also extremely pleased by the range of entries – hard to predict what genre, let alone which topic, period or author will be crowned in the summer. But what an exciting few months we have ahead of us, to read some spectacular books. I’m greatly looking forward to it.

The full long list of 23 titles is tabulated below.

The Award Ceremony for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2022 is scheduled to be held in London on Monday 13 June 2022, at 7pm. Details of the award ceremony and of the short list will be announced in due course. 

The Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award is sponsored by the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. The value of the prize to the winner is £10,000.

Council of the League

5 January 2022

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Since 1986, the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award has been run annually by The Anglo-Hellenic League to reward the best book published in the previous year in English about Greece or on a Greek subject. The Award is open to scholarly and creative books and to translations into English of Greek literary works. 

The judges for the Award in 2022 are:

Prof. Peter Frankopan (chair)

Dr Dionysis Kapsalis

Prof. Naoíse Mac Sweeney 

Prof. Judith Mossman

Dr Sofka Zinovieff 

LONG LIST

Tuesday 9 November 2021, 6pm

Panel Discussion

Battling against Fake news in Britain and Greece: Can the mainstream media win?

By Webinar

Jointly between the League and the Hellenic Observatory, LSE

The challenge of ‘fake’ news, whether from social media or in more mainstream news sources, is a cause for concern in Britain and Greece, as well as internationally. It feeds on declining levels of trust in politics, the disparaging of expertise, and populist revolts – which provide scope for seemingly fanciful news stories. How can responsible mainstream media respond effectively to the spread of fake news? Is it a battle that can only be won by deeper socio-economic shifts occurring? Here we compare the cases of Britain and Greece and look for the wider lessons to be learnt. 

On 9 November, the speakers on our panel (see below) discussed the challenge of fake news, in a lively webinar with a global audience. A video of the event is available on the LSE's YouTube channel (see below).

The event was chaired by Kevin Featherstone, member of Council, and moderated by John Kittmer, chair of Council.

Our panel consisted of:

Tony Barber: European Comment Editor at the Financial Times in London. 

Nikos Konstandaras: columnist for the newspaper Kathimerini and a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times International.

David Patrikarakos: an internationally-acclaimed author and analyst. He has written for every major publication in the United States, Britain and Israel. 

Eleni Varvitsioti: Greece and Cyprus correspondent for The Financial Times.

Council of the League

10 November 2021

Thursday 21 October 2021, 7pm 

Prof. Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith in Conversation

Hellenic Centre (Friends Room), 16/18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Prof. Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith was in conversation with Prof. Robert Holland about the recently published first volume of Sir Michael’s two-volume biography of the statesman, Eleftherios Venizelos. In Venizelos: The Making of a Greek Statesman, 1864-1914 (London: C Hurst & Co, 2021), Prof. Llewellyn-Smith traces Venizelos’s early years, his political apprenticeship in Crete, and his energetic role in that island's emancipation from both Ottoman rule and the arbitrary rule of Prince George of Greece. Summoned to Athens in 1910 by a cabal of officers, Venizelos mastered the Greek political scene, sent the military back to barracks, and led the country through a glorious period of constitutional and political reform, ending in a Balkan alliance waging successful war against Ottoman rule in Europe. By 1914, Greece had doubled in territory and population, and was about to face the challenges of European war. Tensions were rising between the king and the prime minister, foreshadowing political schism. This book illuminates Venizelos' political mastery, Liberalism and nationalism, and traces his fateful friendship with David Lloyd George. 

Council of the League

22 October 2021

Wednesday 13 October 2021, 7.30pm

Lance Foyster MW

A Taste of Greek Wines

Hellenic Centre (Friends & Members Room), 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

The tasting was led by Lance Foyster MW, an experienced wine importer and a lifelong lover of Greece. He gained a degree in Classics at Oxford University before qualifying as a Master of Wine.  Alongside his wife Isabelle Clark, Lance is co-founder and co-owner of Clark Foyster Wines Ltd., a specialist importer based in West London. 

The audience tasted eight wines, all from indigenous Greek varietals, covering red, dry white and sweet styles, and learned of the ‘work in progress’ that is making Greece such a dynamic and increasingly fashionable wine producing country.

Council of the League

14 October 2021

Council of the League elects a new Vice-Chair

At their quarterly meeting in Council yesterday, the Trustees of the League elected Roula Konzotis to be their new Vice-Chair in succession to Frances Manthos, who has stepped down from that role (she will remain a member of Council). Roula is a long-standing member of the League, with a career background in arts administration, and has been a member of Council for over two years.

The Council thanked Frances warmly for her hard work and strong support, and welcomed Roula to her new duties.

Council of the League

5 October 2021

Thursday 30 September 2021, 7pm 

Kate Smith CMG in Conversation 

Friends Room, Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Kate Smith, former British Ambassador to Greece (Jan 2017-July 2021), was in conversation with Prof. Kevin Featherstone, member of the Council of the League, about the state of British-Greek relations, her experiences as ambassador in Athens, and prospects for future developments between Greece and the UK. A large, engaged audience, including HE The Greek Ambassador to the UK, Mr Ioannis Raptakis, listened with great attention and posed stimulating questions.  

Council of the League

2 October 2021

Thursday 16 September 2021, 7pm 

Dr Marios Psaras

‘The Weird Wave of Greek Cinema: a Movement or a Moment?’

Hellenic Centre (Friends & Members Room), 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

In this talk to a lively audience, Dr Psaras revisited landmark films that constituted the original ‘weird corpus’, such as Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth (2009) and Alps (2011), Panos Koutras’s Strella (2009) and Athina-Rachel Tsangaris’s Attenberg (2010), reflecting on reading the “weird” as “queer” and identifying the thematic and formal disenchantment with traditional heteropatriarchal values and the representation that guided the national imaginary and experience. He then turned to later works, such as Tonia Mishialis’ Pause (2018), to evaluate the after-effects of the original wave. 

Dr Marios Psaras holds a Degree in Education & Philosophy (University of Cyprus), an MA and a PhD in Film Studies (Queen Mary University of London). He is the author of the first book-length study on contemporary Greek cinema, The Queer Greek Weird Wave: Ethics, Politics and the Crisis of Meaning (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). As a film scholar, Dr Psaras has taught film theory at Queen Mary, King’s College London, University of Greenwich, and has lectured across Europe. He has published articles, reviews and book chapters on contemporary Greek, European and global queer cinema. Since September 2018, he has been the Cultural Counsellor at the Cyprus High Commission in London.

Council of the League

20 September 2021

Monday 21 June 2021, 7pm

Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award Ceremony 2021 & Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Lecture 2021

Ruth Padel

‘Jane Harrison, Neuro-Anatomy, and 

What Was it Like to Live with Greek Gods?’

Friends Room, Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

This year's Katie Lentakis Award was presented to Hermione Dowling for her dissertation: 'Classical fans: how does the treatment of mythological characters and narrative in Euripides' Helen and Hecuba compare to modern fan-fiction authors' treatment of original characters and narrative from the BBC's Merlin?'. Congratulations to Hermione and to the two runners-up, Isabella Riglia and Eleanor Sheppard.

Tuesday 30 March 2021, 6pm

Professor Judith Herrin

‘Ravenna and Constantinople in the sixth-eighth centuries: 

Greek influences and detractions’

Zoom Webinar

In this illustrated talk, Professor Judith Herrin addressed the status of Ravenna as the empire's outpost in the West; its importance for diplomatic, military and cultural connections with Constantinople and Greek culture; and the evidence of knowledge, and appreciation, of early medieval Greek within the city. She took us to some of the principal monuments and remains of the city from the sixth to the eighth centuries. 

Judith Herrin is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Classics at King’s College London. Her books include Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium, and The Formation of Christendom (all Princeton). Her latest book Ravenna. Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe (Penguin Random House 2020) has recently won the Duff Cooper Pol Roger Prize. 

A recording of Prof. Herrin's talk is available on our YouTube channel: here  and below.

Wednesday 4 November 2020, 7pm.

Michael Cullen, 'Across the Peloponnese: a short walk through thyme'.

Zoom Webinar

The author Michael Cullen gave an illustrated talk on the 15-day north-south hike across the Peloponnese which he first completed in 2016 and describes in his guidebook, Trekking in Greece: The Peloponnese and Pindos Way (Cicerone 2018 - jointly with Tim Salmon). Michael’s talk, accompanied by his own photos, focused on the dramatic landscapes of the Peloponnese, with discursions on history, mythology, flora and fauna, and people.

Michael was born in Athens to British parents and spent as much of his childhood as the school holidays would allow exploring lesser trodden parts of Greece's mainland and islands. After graduating from Cambridge University in French and German, he headed straight back to Greece to set up a programme of adventurous hiking trips around the country, in conjunction with local operator Trekking Hellas. Six years later, armed with lots of hard-won experience, happy memories and lamentably few savings, he expanded his hiking horizons to include France, Spain, Italy and Austria, under the auspices of Oxford-based holiday operator ATG Oxford. The arrival of the dotcom boom, a wife and then a child saw Michael move strategically sideways to co-found a niche accommodation website called i-escape.com, which he still runs to this day. Now based in Bristol, he spends his non-existent spare time singing, wild swimming and updating his two passion-project guidebooks to the Greek mountains.

Those who were unable to make the event can find a full recording on our YouTube channel here and below.

Those who are interested in walking the Peloponnese Way should consult this website.

Tuesday 27 October 2020, 7pm

Polly Samson in Conversation

Zoom Webinar

Author Polly Samson was in conversation with John Kittmer about her latest novel A Theatre for Dreamers (Bloomsbury 2020), set in the sixties on the Greek island of Hydra, where a circle of writers, painters and musicians live, ruled over by Charmian Clift and George Johnston, troubled queen and king of bohemia. Within this circle a love triangle forms between writer Axel Jensen, his wife Marianne Ihlen and a young Canadian poet named Leonard Cohen. ‘A spellbinding novel about utopian dreams and innocence lost.’

Polly Samson is the author of two short story collections and three novels. Her work has been shortlisted for numerous prizes, translated into several languages and dramatised on BBC Radio 4. Her novel The Kindness was named Book of the Year by The Times and Observer. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Those who were unable to make the event can find a full recording on our YouTube channel here and below.

Copies of A Theatre for Dreamers can be bought here.

Runciman Award 2021: Notice for Publishers

In 2021, the League is relaunching and offering a prize, known as the Runciman Award, in honour of the late Sir Steven Runciman, for an original work, wholly or mainly about some aspect of Greece or the world of Hellenism, published in English in any country of the world in its first edition during 2019 or 2020. Details of eligibility, terms and conditions of the Award in 2021, including the new process for publishers' nominations of books, are contained in the attached file 'Notice for Publishers'. The entry form is also attached below [not included in the archive].

We shall make an announcement early in 2021 on the website of the Runciman Award about the new sponsorship arrangements, the composition of the judging panel and the key dates for the award in 2021. The chair of judges in 2021 is Prof. Peter Frankopan.

November 2020

In Memoriam: Matti Egon-Xylas (1935-2020)

On behalf of the Council and members of the League, our Chairman has written to the family of Matti Egon-Xylas to express our condolences at her passing away.

Matti was, for many years, an active and generous member of the League. Born into a Greek shipping family, she was largely brought up and educated in England. From an early age she devoted herself to philanthropy, becoming a major benefactor for causes in the UK and Greece. In addition to her involvement with the League, Matti founded the Greek Archaeological Committee UK and, with her second husband, Nicholas Egon, established and endowed the annual Runciman Lecture at King's College London.

Matti was a wonderful, warm and charming person: a friend and inspiration to very many. She will be much missed and remembered with great affection. Αιωνία της η μνήμη.

Council of the League

20 October 2020 

Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award 2020

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Award 2020 is Emma Bentley for her essay 'Why are the re-imaginings of the Prometheus myth by Hesiod, Aeschylus, and Plato’s Protagoras so different?’

This year’s runner-up was Molly Duffy for 'Mortality and the Monstrous: An Analysis of the Hellenistic Sculptural Depiction of Medusa from Greece and Magna Graecia’. Jessamyn Madden-Aberdein received a commendation from the judges for 'The Birth of Misunderstanding: What can Delphi and Parnassus tell us about dual worship of Apollo and Dionysus as "twin gods"?’

We thank all students at King's College London who submitted essays for the competition and congratulate the three short-listed students for essays that demonstrated creativity, scholarship and excellent writing. 

On receiving news of her £500 award, Emma Bentley said:

‘I'm thrilled and honoured to have won the Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund Prize. My essay approached the Prometheus myth through ontological, epistemological, and ethical lenses, and I was struck by the myth's enduring potential for negotiating complex philosophical and ideological questions. I'm so grateful to receive this prize for a piece of work that I thoroughly enjoyed researching.’

This year’s judges were: Prof. Gonda Van Steen, Dr Isabelle Clark and Dr John Kittmer. The council of the League thanks the judges for their hard work.

Because of Covid restrictions, we will be unable to hold an Award ceremony this year. We will make an announcement shortly about our programme for the autumn.

The Katie Lentakis Memorial Fund was created in honour of Katie Lentakis, who played an important role in the Greek resistance, became a prominent member of the Greek community of London, and was for many years the vice-chair of the Anglo-Hellenic League. The prize, which is open to undergraduate students in their final year at King’s College London, was first awarded in 2002.

1 September 2020

Dr John Kittmer, the Chair of the League's Council, gave the second annual lecture in memory of the Cypriot poet, Niki Marangou. The annual lecture is organised by the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College London, through the sponsorship of Mr Constantis Candounas.

Tuesday 3 December 2019, 7 pm

Victoria Hislop

‘Victoria Hislop in Conversation’

Wolfson Auditorium, The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH

Best-selling author Victoria Hislop was in conversation with John Kittmer (Chair of the League) about her passion for Greece and the role that Greece plays in her writing, including her latest book Those Who Are Loved.

Thursday 13 June 2019, 7pm 

Runciman Award Ceremony 2019

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

The Runciman Award Ceremony 2019 took place in the Great Hall of the Hellenic Centre at 7pm on Thursday 13 June. 

The £9,000 award, sponsored by Elias Paraskevas Attorneys1933, was shared between: 

Time and its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire

Paul J Kosmin

Belknap Press of Harvard

The Transformation of Athens

Robin Osborne

Princeton University Press

Also on the short list were the following four books which the judges commended highly: 

The Gardens of Corfu

Rachel Weaving with Marianne Majerus

Impress

The Excerpta Constantiniana and the Byzantine Appropriation of the Past

Andras Németh

CUP

The Best of the Grammarians

Francesca Schironi

University of Michigan Press

Hesiod, Works and Days

A E Stallings (trans.)

Penguin Classics

For further information visit our website: runcimanaward.org.

Tuesday 2 April 2019, 7 pm

Sofka Zinovieff

‘Three Anglo-Greek families: three books’

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Sofka Zinovieff spoke to the League about the Anglo-Greek lives of the families described in three of her books: two fictional, Putney (2018) and The House on Paradise Street (2012), and one autobiographical, Eurydice Street:  A Place in Athens (2004).

The event raised £525 for the Greek disability charity, ELEPAP.

Tuesday 12 February 2019, 7pm 

Prof. Michael Scott (University of Warwick)

‘We are going where?’ TV and Classics, now and in the future 

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Prof Michael Scott gave an illustrated talk, to the League and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, about the making of his latest BBC2 TV series, Ancient Invisible Cities, in which real-life exploration of hard-to-reach ancient locations combine with high resolution laser-scanning and virtual reality to open up spaces and landscapes never before seen on TV. 

Tuesday 27 November 2018, 7pm

Prof. Gonda Van Steen 

Adoption, Memory, and Cold War Greece: Kid pro quo?

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Prof. Van Steen gave a presentation that delved into the postwar adoption movement of Greek children dispatched to the United States (1950s-1960s). Her illustrated talk situated this understudied phenomenon against the backdrop of Cold War politics and society.

Thursday 15 November 2018, 7pm

Anastasios P. Leventis, CBE

Climate change, biodiversity and the need for action in today's Hellenic world

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

Tassos Leventis gave a presentation on climate change, its effects on the natural world and on human society. The Mediterranean basin and Middle East are among the areas most at risk and the presentation assessed how Greece and Cyprus are responding to the challenge. The event raised €600 for Elliniki Etairia: Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage. 

Thursday 25 October 2018, 7pm

John Kittmer

My Thessaloniki - A personal tour of the city and its culture 

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1U 5AS

John Kittmer gave a personal tour of the city of Thessaloniki, its immediate environs and  culture, highlighting places, history and the people of the city.

Tue 14 June 2016

Runciman Award 2016

The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, London W1

This year’s winner of the Runciman Award for books published in 2015 was Sharon E J Gerstel's, Rural Lives and Landscapes in Late Byzantium (CUP).

The Award was announced at a ceremony by the Chairman of the panel of judges Prof. Tom Harrison. See www.runcimanaward.org for further details.