Petros Markaris to receive the Goethe Medal

The award will be presented at the Residential Palace in Weimar on 28.8.2013

A great honour for Petros Markaris: the Greek author has been awarded the Goethe Medal for his services to the German language and to international cultural exchange. The subtlety of his analyses has raised them above most news coverage, and they have helped to keep alive the memory of the positive aspects of the many years of German-Greek relations, says the selection commission in explaining its choice. Goethe Institute press statement.
In addition to writing his own novels, plays and scenarios, Petros Markaris has translated German-language dramatists such as Dürrenmatt, Brecht and Goethe into Greek. Recently Markaris has shown himself to be a knowledgeable and critical commentator on Greece's economic and political plight, not only in his novels and essays on the financial crisis, but also in the international press (Time of Disorder).
The Goethe Medal is an official decoration conferred by the Goethe Institute. In addition to Petros Markaris, the Iranian translator and author S. Mahmoud Hosseini Zad and the Indian publisher Naveen Kishore are also being honoured.
A new novel by Petros Markaris is appearing on 28.8.2013: Reckoning. A Case for Costas Haritos, the last act in the crisis trilogy after Payday and Bad Credit.