Greek News Agenda (GNA) is an online English language platform, issued by the Secretariat General for Public Diplomacy and Greeks Abroad (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), offering news, features, analysis and interviews that showcase political, economic, business, social and cultural developments in Greece.
As we reach the end of this year, we take a look back on the most popular articles and interviews published on GNA in 2023. We are including the top-ten most visited articles, and also the most popular feature in each of our main interview categories: Reading Greece, Rethinking Greece, Creative Greece and Filming Greece.
INTERVIEWS
Born in Stefanesti-Ilfov-Romania in 1949, Elena Lazăr graduated from the School of Classical Languages of the University of Bucharest. Since 1991, she is the owner and director of the Romanian publishing house OMONIA, which consistently promotes Modern Greek literature in Romania. She is a founding member and vice-chairman of the Romanian Society of Greek Studies, is the author of nine books, and has translated 66 works of Modern Greek literature. The noted Hellenist spoke to Reading Greece about her publishing house, the appeal of Greek literature in Romania and the main challenges she has faced in her endeavor.
Nicholas Doumanis on the last century of Greek history: Greeks are resilient and resourceful
Nicholas Doumanis is Associate Professor of History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. He has written several books on Greece, Italy, the Ottoman Empire and the Greek Diaspora. On the occasion of the publication of the book The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 20th and Early 21st Centuries: Global Perspectives, co-authored with Professor Antonis Liakos, Doumanis spoke on the way his diasporic identity has shaped his perspective as a historian, the significance of global -and local- factors in the shaping of Greek history and why a small country on Europe’s periphery has so often been in the forefront of global historical developments.
The New Greek Americans 1960–2018: Hellenism in modern USA
The documentary film The New Greek Americans 1960–2018 (2019), focusing on the Americans of Greek descent and their relationship with their identity and their heritage, has won the 1st prize for an International Feature Length Documentary Film and the Special Award of the International Films Jury at the International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra (IDFI). On the occasion of the film’s recent distinctions, Greek News Agenda spoke* with GHS president, Bessie Karras-Lazaris, Professor at the Graduate Program in Linguistics at the California State University, Northridge, and also with the documentary’s director producer, filmmaker and actress Anna Giannotis, and its producer, entertainment industry executive Antonia Lianos.
Asimina Proedrou on her film “Behind the Haystacks”
Behind the Haystacks is Asimina Proedrou’s compelling debut feature film and the official Greek entry for the 96th Academy Awards (International Oscar). Critically acclaimed, both nationally and internationally, it has also received numerous prestigious awards, including 10 major awards at the Greek Academy Awards, including Best Picture, 6 awards at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Best Debut Feature Film Award at the International Film Festival of India (Goa). Writer and director Asimina Proedrou about the film, the human condition and her future plans.
ARTICLES
Greek words about health and medicine in English
A number of words commonly used in the English language come from Greek – some directly from Ancient Greek, but most through Latin, French and/or other languages. The medical vocabulary, in particular, includes hundreds, if not thousands, of Greek words, since the Ancient Greeks were among the first to practice medicine in an organized way. This article, published on the occasion of World Health Day, lists some of the most widely used terms that are generally known by people otherwise unfamiliar with the field of medicine.
Common words you (probably) didn’t know were Greek – Part 1
Arguably most people realize that words such as democracy, philosophy or tragedy come from Greek, since the very concepts which they represent also have their roots in Greece. Yet it might surprise you to find out that a number of words used in everyday conversation –from music and story to idea or plastic– are actually Greek! This is the first of a series of articles listing some of these common words and providing their etymology. The first part conatins examples of suffixes as well as words about human relations, biology, planets and geography.
Common words you (probably) didn’t know were Greek – Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 are also among the top 10 most read articles of the year. There you can find words from various fields: from time, space, everyday objects, politics, science and technology to religion, music, theater, writing, education and sports.
Constantinos Doxiadis: The Greek visionary who built cities for the world
Constantinos A. Doxiadis (1913–1975) was one the most prolific and influential architects and urban planners of the postwar period. He regularly put forward innovative proposals for the organization of the urban landscape and distinguished himself through his work across four continents. In the 1960s, he was the lead architect and planner of Islamabad, the new capital city of Pakistan. He was also known as the father of ekistics, which concerns the multi-aspect science of human settlements. This article presents the highlights of his career, on the occasion of an exhibition at Onassis foundation (28.01-26.02.2023), titled Constantinos Doxiadis’ Informational Modernism: The Machine at the Heart of Man.
“Just Go Zero Tilos”: Greece’s first zero-waste island
The small Greek island of Tilos has made its official commitment to become a Zero Waste Candidate City, thanks to the Just Go Zero Tilos an initiative. The Zero Waste Cities Certification is a robust European third-party assessed certification standard, developed by Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) and operated by its sister organization Mission Zero Academy (MiZA).
John Zizioulas, Elder Metropolitan of Pergamon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and internationally regarded as one of the greatest Christian theologians of his time, passed away this February 2023 at the age of 92. In a letter of condolence to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed deep sadness, writing that Zizioulas’ “theology of communion and his research on conciliarity will continue to guide the work of the “Faith and Order” Commission, and of the World Council of Churches in general, as we are preparing for the celebration of the first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 2025”.
Greece as primary hub for Liquefied Natural Gas
Major LNG-related projects are underway at five locations in Greece. The projects could double the country’s capacity to handle world shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) within the next two years, enhancing energy security for Southeastern Europe and beyond. These projects –two near Alexandroupolis in northern Greece, one near Volos in central Greece and two near Athens– come as Europe dramatically increases its imports of LNG to replace Russian natural gas.
2nd Brussels Forum: Europe in a Changing Geopolitical Environment
The 2nd Brussels Forum was jointly organized by think tanks diaNEOSis and ELIAMEP with the aim of facilitating the exchange of views between Greek officials working in European institutions and in the wider European public policy production system and of fostering the ongoing dialogue on the role of Europe in its neighborhood and in the international system, always in context of synthesizing EU goals with national interests. The event took place on 7 November 2022, with the participation of over forty officials and its theme was the major and multi-faceted challenges the EU faces now, from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its implications for energy and food security, to the geopolitical revisionism underway in the wider Mediterranean area.
N.M. Read also via Greek News Agenda: GNA’s most popular interviews & articles for 2022; GNA’s most popular interviews & articles for 2021
