Dimosthenis Papamarkos *Gjak*. With Translator Siân Valvis & C.A. Blintzios

Join us at EBB to celebrate the publication in English of Dimosthenis Papamarkos' novel *Gjak* (Peirene Press), one of the most important Greek works of fiction of the twenty-first century. The author will be speaking alongside Gjak's translator, Siân Valvis and Greek author C.A. Blintzios.

Greece, a hundred years ago: in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War, young men return from the battlefield, forever changed by what they have seen and done. They come home seeking revenge or forgiveness; all of them grieving. They might have survived the war, but peace does not come easily. The men are marked. These are their stories.

*Gjak* unfolds in an unnamed Arvanite village – a closed rural community governed by its own codes of honour. Binding each soldier’s story is the red thread of gjak itself: an Arvanitic word meaning blood, bloodline, blood feud, and nation. With this thread, these interconnected tales are woven into one powerful, haunting portrait of a world in violent transition.

"That it is a masterpiece seems undeniable to me. It is bold, often shocking, and always intimate. Not since I first read *Pedro Paramo* have I encountered a book that was in such close contact with the ineffable." – Kevin Powers

"I can’t remember the last time I wished greater success for a book. For its enduring relevance. For its unnerving blend of tenderness and brutality. For its rueful and unflinching honesty. For simply being unignorable. It ought to be on the front table of every bookstore." – Jim Croce

"Blood inherited, blood endowed, blood spilled into the earth. The protagonists of these riveting stories struggle with their morality, their conscience, and with one another – in a language initially foreign, yet ultimately familiar, because it unapologetically belongs to them." – Yorgos Lanthimos

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Dimosthenis Papamarkos was born in 1983 in Malessina, Greece. He studied Ancient Greek History at the University of Athens before completing further studies at the University of Oxford. Widely regarded as one of the leading voices of his generation, Papamarkos has published novels, short fiction, plays, screenplays, poetry and graphic novels. He has also translated ancient Greek drama for productions of the National Theatre of Greece. *Gjak* received the prestigious Academy of Athens award, among others, and has been adapted many times for the stage. 

Siân Valvis is a British-Greek literary translator working from Greek, Russian, French and Portuguese. She was the recipient of the National Centre for Writing’s Emerging Translator Mentorship in 2020. Her first book, the transadaptation *Kolobok* (Fontanka, 2021), won a PEN Translates award. Valvis’s work has since been shortlisted for the John Dryden Prize and the AAWP Translation Prize. She is currently based in Sao Paulo.

C. A. Blintzios is a Greek/British writer. He has a background in music and Contemporary Art and holds an Mst in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. He has published poetry, short stories, and reviews in journals such as Visual Verse, Ash magazine, Paris Lit-Up, the Oxonian Review and the Literary Review. His debut novel *The Smoke is me, Burning* (KERNPUNKT Press ) came out in 2022. He is currently completing a Ph.D. in nightmare aesthetics at the University of Bristol. 

Peirene Press would like to thank Arts Council England and The Onassis Foundation for their help in funding this event.