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modern educational techniques and practices. In
the curriculum currently being prepared within
the framework of educational reform, a broader
range of Greek literature has been selected and
combined with European and international lit-
erature. We are now including the teaching of
literature in the educational programmes we are
designing for nursery and primary schools; the
teaching of literature at the gymnasium level
has also been upgraded.
Cyprus: a crossroads of people and civilisations
A crossroads of people and civilisations, a
bridge between the east and the west, Cyprus,
through its literature, has sought to imprint
man’s acquaintance with the world. The art of
speech has very ancient routes on our island – it
is a basic facet of our national self-awareness.
Cypriot literary creativity never abated over the
centuries, neither signed nor popular, the work
of academics or folk creativity.
Thanks to our uninterrupted literary creativity,
we are able to project our historical continuity
and intellectual identity. Within the framework
of the Cypriot Presidency, the international
conference
Literary impressions by the people
of Cyprus
was organised with the objective of
projecting and reinforcing our intellectual tradi-
tion. The conference’s theme,
Remembrance of
times and places past,
a title borrowed from our
medieval chronicler Leontios Machairas, charts
the course of Cypriot cultural self-awareness
through the historic timelessness of our culture
and the creative osmosis of western and eastern
influences in “our sweet country Cyprus.”
Turning to our literary tradition
With the challenges endemic to current times,
an era of crisis and economic and intellectual
imperialism, turning to our literary tradition
and history demonstrates our faith in the val-
ue of the “Human,” our determination to give
hope to the younger generations. Our literary
tradition is a living tradition, one that can feed
our present and our future.
Demetris Maronitis and Michalis Pieris at the Conference’s opening ceremony – 6 October