Η Victoria Hislop μιλάει στους μαθητές του λυκείου

Best-selling English novelist Victoria Hislop came to Anatolia on May 11 to speak to (and with) 200 Anatolia gymnasium and lykeion students in Raphael Hall, following a reception for faculty and staff under the pines outside of Morley House. Hislop is the author of The Island and, most recently, The Thread. The former – as everyone in Greece knows – is set on Crete and the former leper colony of Spinalonga; the latter takes place chiefly in Thessaloniki. The 26-part TV dramatization of The Island was watched by three out of four Greeks when it aired in 2010.

The philhellenic Hislop began her talk by declaring her love for Greece, a country where she now maintains a second home, in Crete. It was, she said, the chaotic liveliness of Athens – as well as the climate and the friendliness of the people -- that first attracted her to Greece. She explained how, after 20 years as a journalist, she became a novelist by feeling compelled to tell of the story of the people who once lived, loved, and suffered on Spinalonga when she first visited that small island off the coast of Crete. Her historical imagination was also captured by the tumultuous modern history of Thessaloniki. The Thread, a love story and a story of family and political divisions, begins with the Asia Minor catastrophe, which flooded the city with refugees, and ends with the earthquake of 1978.

Hislop spoke in English and took questions from Anatolia students in English, though she now speaks Greek (learning which, she said, was one of the greatest challenges she has ever faced). The questions had to do with the sources of her inspiration, her working methods, and even the motivations of the characters she has created. She answered thoughtfully and patiently, and it was clear that she enjoys talking with young people. Quite a few students had brought copies of her books to the talk, which she obligingly signed at the end of her warmly received presentation.