Greece Launches Zorba Arts Festival in Kazantzakis Birthplace, Crete

The news in Greek

1. οργανώνω
   κάνω τις απαραίτητες ετοιμασίες για κάτι, το προετοιμάζω ↩︎
2. λογοτεχνία  (f.)
   η τέχνη της γραφής, όπως ποίηση, μυθιστορήματα και διηγήματα ↩︎
3. θέατρο  (n.)
   χώρος ή τέχνη όπου ηθοποιοί παίζουν έργα μπροστά στο κοινό ↩︎
4. γιορτάζω
   τιμώ ή αναγνωρίζω κάτι σημαντικό με ειδικές εκδηλώσεις ↩︎
5. ογδόντα
   ο αριθμός 80 ↩︎
6. πολιτεία  (f.)
   ο τρόπος που κάποιος ζει τη ζωή του, η συμπεριφορά και οι πράξεις του ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Where will the ZORBAS festival take place?

Question 2: What anniversary does the festival celebrate?

Vocabulary

Greek	English
οργανώνω	to organise
λογοτεχνία  (f.)	literature
θέατρο  (n.)	theatre
γιορτάζω	to celebrate
ογδόντα	eighty
πολιτεία  (f.)	life conduct

Read the full story

The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Crete is launching a new cultural festival dedicated to one of Greek literature’s most iconic characters. The Festival of Word and Art, titled “ZORBAS”, will take place from 29 July to 2 August 2026 in Heraklion and the village of Myrtiá, marking 80 years since the first publication of The Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas.

The festival comes seven years after the museum’s previous series of cultural events, known as “Travelling”, came to an end. According to the museum’s director, Marilena Milathianaki, the new festival is not simply a return to organising events, but a natural continuation of a transformation the museum has undergone in recent years — including recognition by the Greek Ministry of Culture, digital and energy upgrades, and the development of international partnerships.

Milathianaki was keen to emphasise that the festival aims to revisit the original novel rather than simply mark an anniversary. “We are not interested in a commemorative reading. We want to return to the novel itself,” she told the Greek news agency ANA-MPA. She noted that Zorbas is widely known through the film directed by Mihalis Cacoyannis, but that the museum’s focus is the literary character — one who raises enduring questions about freedom, work, love, friendship, death, and human dignity. “His international appeal was so great that the film character often overshadowed the literary one,” she said.

The festival’s programme spans literature, music, theatre, visual arts, comics, and educational activities. A feature called “Zorba Talks” will bring together researchers, academics, and artists in public dialogue about the novel and its various adaptations. Milathianaki connected this multi-arts approach directly to Kazantzakis himself, noting that he wrote novels, poetry, plays, travel writing, and film scripts, and “did not recognise barriers between the arts”.

A highlight of the programme is a roaming performance titled “7 Stations Inspired by Zorbas”, directed by Konstantinos Tsakirelis, in which the entire village of Myrtiá becomes an open-air stage. “Audiences are not simply watching a performance — they move through it,” said Milathianaki. The village of Myrtiá, where the museum is located, is described not merely as a venue but as part of the cultural experience itself, with the museum hoping the festival will support the local economy and community.

Looking further ahead, Milathianaki announced that the museum is already preparing for 2027, which will mark 70 years since the death of Nikos Kazantzakis. Her vision is for the museum to function as “a living organism of cultural production” rather than simply a place of memory.