Author: mariapapayanni

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

A remarkable novel, with a special rhythm to it. It possesses vitality, truth, inspiration and the slyness of a fox. In essence, it is a composition of poetic moments that deceives us in the guise of a novel, thanks to a potent dose of prose. From the very first page, one realizes it is not possible to stay on the surface. There are masterful tricks that draw you to the substance. Symbolisms, contrasts, abstraction, dreamlike states, bewitching words, loving moments, sweet excesses, simplicity and wisdom, well honed experience and knowledge, sadness, losses both visible and unprofessed, orphanhood, migration, war, hope, theatricality. All of it with the economy of an intelligent, elliptical outlook on the events surrounding us. Maria Papayanni is shaking her soul at the balcony and images fall. We have here an excellent writer. A philosophy manual. As such, it prompts us to the optimism we ought to embody.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“The book is full of love for man, for the stricken, the weak, the homeless, the persecuted, for all who find themselves at the mercy of others, and for animals. Counterpoint to the fear of those who are ready to do evil. […] Certainly, Papayanni aims her arrows well and knows how to instruct and guide without availing herself of a moralistic style. She uses a rich, intertextual background out of which she not only crafts “shoes with wings” but helps thinking take flight, walk on mountains, swim at the bottom of the sea and fly to the sky, drawing from there whatever humanizes the world and promotes life and culture so that, by reading, we gain back the time lost and reclaim our humanity.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“Setting out with phrases or bits of verse which probably inspired herself in her life and work, she creates an intertextual scaffold on which she masterfully rigs her story. A story that unfolds between the utopian imaginary and the real, with heroes who directly refer to great literary works and characters such as Don Quixote, Marabu, Panda, Babel, including contemporary ones such as The Black Lake by Melina Karakosta.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“I was wondering a few days ago what we are looking for when we read literature. I concluded that what we seek is a kind of justice. The justice of beauty. The justice of truth. This is the justice which “Shoes with wings.staunchly defends. With the poetic gaze operating as an escape but also as a renewed, possibly different way of wandering through the world and making contact with it. A way of redefining and transforming it. With the power for change and hope. A power, finally, of truth, substance and humanity.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“Racism, unemployment, difference, the love of animals, the importance of poetry and fairytales, solidarity, the need for companionship, family relationships, all get a hearing in the book’s pages, making up a world where problems will never be easily solved. A world everyone can recognize. Life does have a difficult side. But that is where love, tolerance, acceptance and struggle reside. Shoes with wings that will allow man to fly were never made, yet, toil, understanding, love can raise him high.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

«“Shoes with wings.For 8-9 years of age to any age at all. It is warmly recommended. For those who want to tame the fox that gave them a wild look, the things which were forgotten and the things which beguile. For the poetry that is to be found in life and for the life that sometimes becomes poetry.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια µε φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“Drawing from the great spring of folk traditions, poetry and the small miraculous moments of the everyday, Maria Papayianni, crafts Rosa’s world out of the materials at hand in the world around us, without didacticism but with great humanist feeling.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια με φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“Papayani’s writing is expressive and engaging. She has the ability to effortlessly communicate her message to the reader, attract him into her narrative universe, have him enter the story, empathize, agonize, laugh, identify with the characters. Her storytelling which occasionally turns poetic, the technique of encased narratives which merge seamlessly into the storyline, her rich and well crafted intertextual references, her literary armature reflected in her use of language, mark her one of the most noteworthy writers for children and youth.”

για το βιβλίο “Παπούτσια με φτερά” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

“A world that is hard and violent in which you live, which you reject, which you imagine different.You do have the choice of creating this different world. Here, however, the colors are different, as are, for instance poems and their language, to which the author masterfully alludes through her chapter titles, or as are imagination, optimism, a gaze directed towards life, that gives you shoes with wings to run to the place you dream of.”

Excerpt from the presentation by Kostas Magos, at the 13^th International Conference on Intercultural Education 2010

για το βιβλίο “Τρεις παλάμες όλη η γη” των εκδόσεων Πατάκη

The book describes the parallel daily reality of two girls of the same age: Anna in Greece and Chadzouavi in Ghana. Through the story, the young readers of Greece become familiarized with basic aspects of their peers’ way of life in Africa, discovering similarities and differences. The scarcity of water and the difficulties in securing it, the domicile, the family, the parents’ occupation, the educational setting and other matters concerning the life of children in the particular African country, emerge through the books texts and illustrations in a way that is natural and easy understand even for younger children. The book avoids all the usual traps mentioned earlier. In particular, “exoticism”, a common issue in books describing other cultures, is entirely absent in the present text where the description of the daily life of the different “other” is consonant with the corresponding reality. Also objective is the description of daily life regarding members of the dominant culture. There are no obvious or hidden stereotypes in the book, while the storyline fosters intercultural contact, understanding and the respect of difference, as well as support for children’s education in Africa through the relevant programs. Finally, the story offers itself for discussion on issues to do with children’s rights globally and the existing inequalities around that.

The choice of heroines is apt, as it concerns two girls both of them preschoolers, who, despite the distance separating them, share the same desires (play) the same dreams (school) the same needs (love, tenderness) the same questions (how large is the earth) the same fears. The lives of Chadzouavi and Anna are treated equally and the differences work not in the service of marginalizing difference, but as a motive for deeper contact and exchange.