Few Athenians are so-called ‘True Athenians’ and the city often seems like a collection of villagers, refugees and outsiders.
From Bavarian grand plans to “part-exchange” building schemes. When Greece became an independent nation state in the 1830s, King Otto arrived with his Bavarian entourage. They introduced beer… and planned a new Athens inspired by ancient aesthetics. Sofka meets architect Lazaris Zaoussis at the neoclassical Academy to discuss this city of dreams. During the 20th
From a little-known hill to a hidden tunnel. Sofka introduces the series and herself: a British writer and one-time anthropologist, she’s an adopted Greek with a Russian name. We visit an unfamiliar hill – the Tourkovounia. Former US diplomat and archaeologist Brady Kiesling gives a sense of Athens’ geography – an urban sprawl surrounded by
In Greece You Don’t Choose Your Village Most Greeks have ancestral ties to villages they regularly visit. And, just like in a family, these reunions can be at once joyful and maddening. Sofka Zinovieff | June 23rd, 2020 When lockdown eased and travel outside one’s home region was permitted, we escaped the unseasonal heatwave in Athens
26 Best Travel Books That Will Take You All Around the World No plane ticket required. By Elena Nicolaou Jun 25, 2020 Sofka Zinovieff, a Brit, moves to her husband’s native Athens to raise their two daughters. From her vantage point between cultures, Zinovieff can observe Greek customs as she participates in them. Eurydice Street is the honest
Putney published by Orange Books, Sofia, Bulgaria 2019 https://www.orangecenter.bg/
Why Are Greeks So Hospitable? An Anthropologist’s View Is there more to a spoon sweet than meets the eye? Anthropologist Sofka Zinovieff examines the hidden layers of meaning in Greek hospitality. By Sofka Zinovieff | February 12th, 2020 I first lived in Greece in the late 1980s as a student. I’d exchanged chilly Cambridge
Sofka Zinovieff and Emma Glass – Considering #MeToo 2:30pm – 3:30pm – Saturday 26 October Tickets £6 http://www.derbybookfestival.co.uk/whats-on/sofka-zinovieff-and-emma-glass-confronting-metoo/ Derby Book Festival welcomes two writers whose work tackles the themes of violence, rape and sexual grooming in two brave, hard hitting novels. Putney by Sofka Zinovieff is described by The Guardian as ‘a Lolita for the age