Greek Petros Markaris: Star of 2011 International Book Fair in Vienna

Greek author Petros Markaris was honestly touched and surprised that his detective stories are so widely accepted from the reading audiences around the world, as proved during the International Book Fair 2011 held in Vienna from November 10 to 13.

Petros Markaris is considered to be a “star” author of Greek crime novels with most of his books having been translated in to 14 languages and published in 20 different countries.

According to the Austrian press, 72-year-old Markaris is a modern “Greek literature star” with a series of best-selling novels on crimes and corruption in Athens, while he is listed as one of the top 10 modern European crime writers.

Markaris held the opening speech at this year’s International Book Fair of Vienna, while the inauguration events were attended by the Austrian Minister of Education Claudia Schmied.

The novelist’s speech was of highly political orientated content and covered topics including Greece and its role in Europe, the economic crisis and the role of art and literature in these matters. According to Markaris, people can and should find shelter in literature in these harsh times.

Austrian features on Markaris’ work are praising his prose, sense of humor, social reality of the things presented and the excellent detective components that keep the reader’s interest alive until the very last page of the novel. “Inspector Costas Haritos” is the protagonist of Markaris’ crime novels and reveals the balance of social reality, detective story and personal life.

In his latest novel Expiring Loans, Haritos comes face to face with the financial crisis that has been rocking Greece for the last two years and a series of unsolved murders connected to banks, hedge funds and a rating agency.