Thursday, March 27, 2008

Books written by Greek Diplomats

In 2002 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece has published a book (available only in Greek language) entitled: “Diplomacy and Authorship”.

For the first time the Ministry has put together a comprehensive catalogue of the books written by Greek diplomats, including those volumes that do not deal with diplomatic affairs.

The initiative came from Ambassador Adamantios Vasilakis when he was Head of the Centre for Analysis and Planning of the Ministry. Vasilakis not only took the initiative but also actively participated in the whole layout of the book.

In the book, diplomats are listed in alphabetical order; for each of them some basic biographical information and a photo are provided. This description is followed by a list of their writings classified by subject (International Relations, Law, Literature, History etc.).

Moreover, the comprehensive and well illustrated publication contains further useful data concerning Greek diplomats’ writings such as a list of the reprints, a list of awarded books and a useful list of abbreviations and acronyms.

Among famous Greek diplomat-writers included, one can find George Seferis (alias Georgios Seferiadis), who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1963 for his lyric poetry.

The idea behind this book is similar to the one used in a recently published research (available in English language) by Diplofoundation and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning books written by Italian diplomats (Through the Diplomatic Looking Glass -
http://baldi.diplomacy.edu/italy/diplomaticglass.htm).

A Catalogue of books written by Swiss diplomats is currently being compiled by Amb. Jacques Rial. The draft of this work is available at the webpage:
http://www.diplomacy.edu/Publications/display.asp?Topic=Writers-Swiss

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