April 10, 1998

Contact:
Press Contact: Yvonne French (202) 707-9191

---

Greek Novelist Nicholas Papandreou To Read at Library of Congress

Greek novelist Nicholas Papandreou will read from his works at 6:45 p.m. May 13 in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. The reading is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.

Mr. Papandreou was born in 1956 in San Francisco to a family of prominent Greek politicians and academics. His father, Andreas, and his grandfather, George, served as prime minister of Greece, and his brother, George, is a member of the Greek Cabinet.

Crowds, campaigns, speeches and the Greek countryside shape his first novel, A Crowded Heart (Picador 1998, Penguin 1996). It broke sales records in Greece when it appeared in 1995, and remained in the top 10 for the next two years. His second book, Lepti Grammi (Fine Line) (1997), is available to date only in Greek. He writes in both Greek and English.

Mr. Papandreou spent his teenage years in Canada, where his family had fled to escape the Greek dictatorship, and continued his formal education at Yale and Princeton. After receiving his Ph.D. in economics, he served in the Greek air force and later taught at the University of the Aegean and the National Institute of Public Policy in Athens. In the fall of 1997, he was a visiting fellow/writer-in-residence at Princeton University's Hellenic Studies program. He currently teaches literature at Christie's Education Program, an art-history institute in Athens.

Mr. Papandreou will be introduced by free-lance writer and author Christopher Hitchens, who covers Washington for The Nation and Vanity Fair.

The reading is the fifth in the New Literature from Europe series, co-sponsored by the Library's Office of Scholarly Programs and European Division, the European Union, the European Commission and the embassy of the country of the writer's origin, in this case, the Greek Embassy.

"This series gives Washington audiences an opportunity to assess and understand the originality and diversity of contemporary European literature presented by some of its best writers," said Prosser Gifford, director of the Office of Scholarly Programs.

Interpreting services (American Sign Language, Contact Signing, Oral and/or Tactile) will be provided if requested five business days in advance of the event. Call (202) 707- 6362 TTY and voice to make a specific request. For other ADA accommodations, contact the Disability Employment office at (202) 707-9948 TTY and (202) 707-7544 voice.

 

# # #

PR 98-066
4/10/98
ISSN 0731-3527