14:00
Registration
14:15
Welcome remarks
Sonja Griegoschewski
Director General, Goethe-Institut Athen; Regional Director Goethe-Institut Europe Ι
Giorgos Papanagiotou
Managing Director, Thinking
14:00 – 20:00
Reading books in the digital age
14:30 – 17:00
Talks
Reading culture: Past and Present

Prof. Gerhard Lauer, Department of Book and Reading Studies, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz

Reading books in the digital age: The forms and future of reading

Prof. Miha Kovač, Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies, University of Ljubljana

Best practices for audience development and reading promotion in Europe

Luis González, Director General, Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez (FGSR)

Books and reading: Domestic policies and international contexts

Prof. Anna Karakatsouli, Director of the Book History Lab (BHL), Department of Theatre Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)

Investing in family: Early years book gifting programs

Ava Chalkiadaki, President, Diavazontas Megalono

17:00 – 17:30
Break
17:30 – 18:45
Organising reading promotion
CASE STUDIES
Year of Reading Culture 2026-2027: A HFBC initiative for reading promotion

Dr. Panagiotis Kapos, Vice-President, Hellenic Foundation for Book and Culture (HFBC)

‘Bringing books and children together’: The international and the Greek experience

Vangelis Iliopoulos, author, President, Greek IBBY

Reading Literacy in Libraries: Digital Media and the Role of Readers

Anthi Baliou, MSc, Librarian; Head of the Library and Information Centre, University of Macedonia

Reading Literacy in Libraries and the Network of Eight’s Reading Promotion Initiatives: The Distinctive Role of Libraries in Creating Readers
Angeliki Fournari, Librarian; Head of the Municipal Library of the Municipality of Filothei-Psychiko, & Lydia Alagianni, MSc, Librarian, Municipal Library of Kalyvia, Municipality of Saronikos
Book clubs: The social dimension of reading for adults

Katerina Malakate, author, owner of Booktalks bookstore, book club coordinator

18:45 – 19:00
Break
19:00 – 20:00
Why reading books is important in the digital age
On the occasion of the Greek edition of “Read to breathe: Ten reasons to read books in the digital age” by Miha Kovac by To Mellon/Vakxikon Publications
PANEL DISCUSSION
  • Prof. Miha Kovač, Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies, University of Ljubljana
  • Prof. Gerhard Lauer, Department of Book and Reading Studies, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz
  • Prof. Nikos Bakounakis, President, Hellenic Foundation for Book and Culture (HFBC)
  • Moderator
    Lambrini Kouzeli
    , journalist, To Vima newspaper
09:30 – 10:00
Registration
10:00 – 14:30
Translation: The new European rights market and AI
10:00 – 12:00
Talks
Translation in Europe: data and public policies

Yana Genova, cultural consultant and researcher; founder of Next Page Foundation; co-author of the report “Books in Translation. Trends and Transformations in the European Publishing Market”

Translation in Greece in data

Mirella Batziania, Responsible for the content and management of the Books in Print database bookpoint.gr, Greek Collecting Society for Literary Works (OSDEL)

Beyond Faster Translation: AI, Human Expertise and the Future of Books in Europe

Ricarda Essrich, translator, Founder, Essrich Language Services

Dialogue
Translators, publishers and literary translation

Maria Fakinou, translator, author, & Kostas Spatharakis, publisher, Antipodes Publications

Can a Full Stop Kill? What do we risk when we entrust translation to AI

Vasilis Babouris, translator trainer, translator, educational technologist and AI tools specialist; Director of Studies, meta|φραση

12:00 – 12:30
Break
12:30 – 13:30
How to use AI tools for book translations
WORKSHOP

In this interactive session, Emily Diamandopoulou will help you get hands-on with AI in book translations:

  • The lay of the land: Neural machine translation (NMT), Large Language Models (LLMs), AI-assisted Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) - what is what, and what each is for
  • Hallucinations: how they sneak in, and how to catch them
  • False confidence: why fluent output is the dangerous kind
  • Choosing the right model and tool for the genre, language pair and risk
  • Hands-on: Worked examples, comparing different approaches
  • Discussion and Q&A throughout
  • Emily Diamandopoulou, translator, Founder, Rhyme&Reason and RIMA Language_Tech_Culture
  • Discussant
    Ricarda Essrich, translator, Founder, Essrich Language Services
13:30 – 14:30
The emerging structure of the European translation market and opportunities for publishers and translators
PANEL DISCUSSION
  • Yana Genova, cultural consultant and researcher; founder of Next Page Foundation; co-author of the report “Books in Translation. Trends and Transformations in the European Publishing Market”
  • Kostas Athanasiou, translator
  • Katerina Fragou, agent, founder, Iris Literary Agency
  • Nikoletta Stathopoulou, Head of Information and Library Department, Goethe-Institut Athen
  • Moderator
    Grigoris Bekos
    , journalist, To Vima newspaper; Translated literature and non-fiction editor, Kastaniotis Editions
14:30 – 15:30
Meet the speakers: Lunch and networking
15:30 – 20:00
Emerging technologies: AI, audiobooks and ebooks
15:30 – 17:30
Talks
Implementing AI in publishing: Strategy, guidelines and ethics

Sara Lloyd, Group Communications Director & Global AI Lead, Pan Macmillan (Holtzbrinck Publishing Group)

Audiobooks: Business models, production and new audiences in emerging markets

Nathan Hull, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Beat Technology

“Ebooks: International trends and Greek opportunities and challenges"

Michalis Kalamaras, publishing consultant, Thinking; founder, eAnagnostis.gr

The new ebook toolkit: Reading systems, accessibility, and the next generation of DRM (LCP)

Gautier Chomel, Head of Accessibility & Quality Management, European Digital Reading Lab - EDRLab

17:30 – 18:00
Break
18:00 – 19:00
Your next AI project: What will you actually do on Monday?
WORKSHOP

In this interactive session, Sara Lloyd will help you get hands-on with AI in publishing:

  • Where the time goes: finding the repetitive work worth handing over — and the work you have never had the people to attempt at all
  • Three questions before you start: turning principles into a decision you can make in thirty seconds, tested on real cases
  • Free or paid: why the account your team uses matters more than the tool they choose
  • One AI assistant, five departments: worked examples from editorial, design, production, marketing and sales — each possible with nothing but a subscription
  • Being found: how readers now discover books by asking AI assistants, and what that means for publishing in Greek
  • Your first pilot: one task, one person, six weeks, one number — written down before you leave the room
  • Discussion and Q&A throughout
  • Sara Lloyd, Group Communications Director & Global AI Lead, Pan Macmillan (Holtzbrinck Publishing Group)
  • Moderator
    Michalis Kalamaras
    , publishing consultant, Thinking; founder, eAnagnostis.gr
19:00 – 20:00
The next wave of digital transformation in the Greek book market
PANEL DISCUSSION
  • Sara Lloyd, Group Communications Director & Global AI Lead, Pan Macmillan (Holtzbrinck Publishing Group)
  • Nathan Hull, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Beat Technology
  • Argyris Kastaniotis, publisher, Kastaniotis Editions
  • Oliana Faldami, publisher, Klidarithmos Publications
  • Moderator
    Michalis Kalamaras, publishing consultant, Thinking; founder, eAnagnostis.gr
20:00 – 21:00
Meet the speakers: Cocktail and networking

30-minutes 1-to-1 meetings with book experts at the ground floor of Goethe-Institut Athen

1-to-1 consultation on digital reading technologies, with Gautier Chomel, Head of Accessibility & Quality Management, European Digital Reading Lab - EDRLab: 10:00-12:00, 12:30-14:30

Schedule a meeting

1-to-1 consultation for publishers on navigating the translation funding schemes, with Yana Genova, cultural consultant and researcher; founder of Next Page Foundation; co-author of the report “Books in Translation. Trends and Transformations in the European Publishing Market”: 15:30-17:30

Schedule a meeting