Archaeological Tales

Dr. Nikos Xanthoulis served as principal trumpet player in the Orchestra of the Greek National Opera for 25 years. From 2009 to 2012 he was the Head of the Educational Department of the same Opera. As a soloist and composer has presented his music in Greece and abroad (USA, Canada, China, Russia, Sweden, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey etc). He is Assistant Researcher in the Academy of Athens and Tutor in the Greek Open University. His four children’s operas have been presented in many Greek theaters. He has written incidental music for tragedies using reconstructed ancient Greek instruments. The Archaeological Institute of America awarded him with the Kress lectureship for 2012-13 and 2017-2018. From 2014 to 2015 he served as Artistic Director of the Greek Public Broadcasting Orchestras and Choirs.

Katerina Veroutsou is a professional illustrator currently working in Greece, and has published over 150 titles in children’s picture books, fiction and non-fiction, for prominent publishing houses in Greece. She has studied Fine Arts at the Concordia University of Montreal in Canada and has also worked as a professional paint artist for television and theatre productions. She has received the Greek National Award for Illustration for the year 2009.

Renia Metallinou is an illustrator from Greece, living in a small house by the sea, a few miles away from Athens, with her husband, their kids and lots of pets. She studied graphic design and worked as a graphic designer for major magazines and newspapers for a decade, before taking the plunge to follow her dream career as an illustrator. Since 2014 she’s been working as a full time freelance illustrator, creating books for publishers in Greece and abroad. Her work combines traditional and digital media. In 2017 she was shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards in the children’s book category.

Yanis Bitsakis got his BSc in Physics at the Faculty of Physics of Athens University, and a MSc in History of Science and Technology from the joint program at the University of Athens and the National Technical University of Athens. He is currently completing a PhD thesis on “The history of the Antikythera Mechanism and its educational implications”. He joined the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project in 2005, as coordinator of the logistics of the data gathering phase and subsequently, as coordinator of the research on the inscriptions. He is now involved in educational and public understanding in relation to the Antikythera Mechanism, organizing conferences, lectures and exhibitions, developing and maintaining the website of the research project. He is a member of the History, Philosophy and Didactics of Science and Technology Programme, a founding member of the Hellenic Society of History, Philosophy and Didactics of Science, member of the Association of Ancient Greek Technology Studies and of the International Council of Museums.

Yanna Deliyanni was born in Athens. She studied Cinematography at the School of Film and Television Studies Eugenia Hatzikou from which she obtained the National Diploma in Directing. She is the founder of CiNEMATHESIS and aspires to put the cinema at the core of Education. She organizes and gives life to Educational Programmes for children of all ages, educational Cinema Clubs, narrations and activities on Educational Theatre. All these are achieved by cooperating with public and private institutions. Along with cinematography, she studied Arts & Sciences at Deree College and obtained the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. She has also attended Training Courses for Educators focusing on ‘Cinema in Education’ at THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE (BFI) & INTO FILM in London. In the theatre, she cooperated for 15 years with Porta Theatre as Assistant Director, Production Manager of theatrical performances, Stage Director and Students Coordinator in school performances. She is also partner to the English Theatre Club and other theatre companies. In 2004, she participated as Assistant Director in the “Athens 2004” Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, under the direction of Thomas Moshopoulos.

Βorn in Greece in 1962, the artist and illustrator Photini Stephanidi – daughter of the painter Yannis Stephanidis – completed her studies in painting and fresco at the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1986, where her teachers included painters of international repute such as Giannis Moralis, Dimitris Mytaras and Constantine Xinopoulos. Since 1988 she has exhibited her work in twenty individual and many group and international exhibitions of painting, engraving and illustration both in Greece and abroad. Her pictures have featured in about a hundred of published works, including editions of Greek folk tales, literature and poetry, and she has made a speciality of collectors’ editions. Notable among the many prizes and distinctions her work has gained are the Bratislava Illustrators’ Biennale Plaque (2001), the Greek State Prize for Illustration (2003, 2007 and 2011), the Belgrade Illustrators’ Biennale ‘Golden Pen’ (2005 and 2013) and ‘Plaquette’ (2010), the first prize for illustrations from the Greek Section of IBBY (1995, 2005 and 2011), EBGE prize and mention 2007 and 2013, her selection as the Hellenic Republic’s candidate for the 2004 Hans Christian Andersen Prize, and for the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards.