Anastasia Tsapanidou works as Special Teaching Staff in the Department of Greek Philology at the Democritus University of Thrace, where she teaches Modern Greek and Comparative Literature. She is also a member of the academic committee at the Hans & Niki Eideneier Laboratory in the same department, and director of two of its research projects on Byzantine Vernacular Literature and Early Modern Greek Literature. She graduated from the Department of Philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, specialising in Modern Greek Literature, where she also completed her postgraduate thesis and doctoral dissertation and a five-year postdoctoral research programme. In addition, she has taken courses in Modern Greek Literature at the Ιnstitut Néo-hellénique de l’Université de Paris- Sorbonne (ex Paris IV), in Translation in the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation & Interpreting at the Ionian University, and in Greek Palaeography at the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation. Her research interests mainly focus on the literary output of coethnic Greeks in the East from Ottoman times to the mid-20th century, the history of Modern Greek literature, the history of ideas of modern Hellenism, and on special issues in literary representation.

“There come times when coincidences - whims of fate, perhaps - happen to change your plans and lead you to new paths. Can a library ever have a hand in such things? Yes, it can, when it has a long and singular past, and is supported by inspired people who, in some magical way, persuade you to believe in them and their vision. I first met Abidin some years ago, and the result of our acquaintance would no doubt have lain tucked away in a drawer for quite some time. Everything changed when I received the extremely tempting offer to take part in a multicultural “Conversation”, via which the Hafız Ahmed Ağa Library aspired to fill its rooms with the whispers of people from times past, who reached their prime - as the library did - right where the East and West were being bridged. I am so grateful to Tarık Tüten who saw to me getting a ticket on this journey of the mind. It has turned out to be fascinating.”

Anastasia Tsapanidou