Athens October 18. Within the framework of the XIII LEA Festival (Literature in Athens), at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center a beautiful and patriotic Tribute to “The Greek Revolution, the Latin American independence movements and their poets” was held on the occasion of the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution and of several Latin American countries. The director of the Festival Adriana Martínez, presented the event, which was greeted by the Cuban Ambassador to Greece Zelmys María Dominguez Cortina and the diplomat Laura Olivia Mora from the Embassy of Mexico on behalf of Ambassador Daniel Hernandez. Next, the Greek ambassador and writer Vasilis Papadopoulos, director of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic, referred to the work of Dionisyos Solomos, national poet of Greece; the Counselor of the Cuban embassy, José Oriol Marrero Martínez, referred to Cuban poets of independence such as José María Heredia, Joaquín Jacinto Luaces, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, and Juan Clemente Zenea, led by the national poet José Julián Martí Perez; The Mexican playwright Luis Edoardo referred in his paper to the Mexican national poet Ramón López Velarde, a presentation that was read in his place by Leonora Moreleon, president of the Abanico foundation. The moderator was the intellectual Eduardo Lucena, who also asked the speakers several questions at the end, which provided interesting additional information to those present through the responses of the speakers. The event concluded with the words of the famous Greek writer Petros Márkaris, honorary president of the LEA. It was an interesting event that paid well-deserved tribute to the poets who sang to freedom.
In the case of Cuba, photos of the counselor Marrero Martinez from his book “Marti and the Greek” were also projected, where he reflects what the Cuban national hero wrote about various places in Greece and his love for this Mediterranean country, especially for the spirit of freedom and resistance of the Greek people. The book, dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Greek revolution, is being published in Greek by the prestigious Greek publishing house Topos and will be presented soon, at its launch those present at the event were invited.
The LEA Festival, which for the first time is sponsored by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Her Excellency Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, takes place this year in the context of the commemoration of the 200 years since the beginning of the Greek revolution and the independence of Mexico, Panama and Peru.
Since its creation in 2008, the LEA festival has had the support and participation of the Embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia in Italy concurrent in Greece, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Uruguay and Venezuela in Greece. Co-organizers of the Festival are the non-profit company LEA Festival Intercultural Development, the Instituto Cervantes de Atenas and the Escuela de Lenguas y Culturas Iberoamericanas Abanico. Supporting entities are, among others, Acción Cultural Española and the Instituto Camões de Portugal.
LEA’s mission is to encourage and disseminate letters and arts among the countries of the Iberian Peninsula, Latin America and Greece, through the organization of high-level cultural events, meetings and exchanges. The LEA Festival is an annual cultural event focused on literature, which nevertheless incorporates music, cinema, visual arts and gastronomy from Ibero-American countries into its program. Relevant writers, literary critics and journalists from Greece, Latin America, Spain and Portugal participate in LEA.
With the Greek writer Petros Márkaris as honorary president and with the Colombian journalist Adriana Martínez as director, the LEA Festival has managed in its thirteen years of life to be a point of reference when it comes to the dissemination of Ibero-American letters in Greece.
EmbaCuba Greece / LEA
