ex-Board Member, PubisHer;
Publishing lead, Shimmr AI
Lina Kassianidou
Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus
Dr Vasiliki (Lina) Kassianidou holds a PhD from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Until 2023 she was a professor at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus until she took up the position of Deputy Minister of Culture. Among other positions, she was Director of the Archaeology Research Unit and Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cyprus. She also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cultural Foundation of the Bank of Cyprus and in 2018, by decision of the Council of Ministers, she was appointed a member of the National Council for Innovation and Research of the Republic of Cyprus. In addition, he was a member of the Cyprus National Commission for UNESCO and in 2022 he was elected Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America. She has published extensively and has participated and coordinated a number of field projects and interdisciplinary research projects on her areas of expertise, with funding from the European Union, the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, and the University of Cyprus.
Andreas Apostolou
Member of Parliament, Committee on Education, House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus
Andreas Apostolou studied Civil and Transportation Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens and followed postgraduate studies in business administration at the Bristol Business School in the United Kingdom. He is an approved trainer of the Human Resources Development Authority and a member of ETEK. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Larnaca District with EDEK in the parliamentary elections of 2021. He is a member of the parliamentary committees of Education and Culture, Labor and Social Welfare, Control and also monitors the Health committee for issues concerning chronic patients. He is Vice-President of EDEK, member of the Permanent Cancer Committee of the Cyprus Patient Associations Federation and Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Christina A. Apostolou Foundation.
Chrysa Nikolaou
Director General, National Library of Greece
Chrysa E. Nikolaou has been appointed Director General of the National Library of Greece. She is an Archivist, Librarian, and Museologist, and a graduate of the Ionian University with postgraduate studies in Cultural Organisations Management. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. She has extensive professional experience in libraries. Her research interests include the role of libraries in the Information Society through networking and the creation of social capital. She has participated in research programs and various training and education programs in Greece and abroad.
Andreas K. Andreou
Ηead of the Library's Information Systems and Technologies Department, University of Cyprus Library; Member of the Advisory Committee of the Cyprus Library
Andreas K. Andreou (Andreas Kapandreou) is a librarian and writer. He studied Librarianship, Information Sciences and Educational Sciences (Continuing Education). He works at the University of Cyprus as the head of the Library's Information Systems and Technologies Department. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Cyprus Library, an honorary board member of the Cyprus Association of Librarians and Information Scientists (CALIS) and a member of the Board of the Hellenic Spiritual Club of Cyprus (EPOK). He is an ex-member of the Council of the University of Cyprus, while he was also president of the CALIS. In 2010 he co-authored, together with Filippos Tsimpoglou, the Strategic Development Plan of the Cyprus Library: from reality to ideal, through the possible. He is also the author of five literary books. His works have been translated and published in other languages.
Giorgos Savvinidis
Journalist
Giorgos Savvinidis was born in Thessaloniki. He is a graduate of the Department of Journalism of the School of Arts, Communication and Cultural Studies at Frederick University. From 2001 to 2006 he worked as a journalist at Haravgi, while since 2003 he has been involved in writing cultural articles. Since 2007 he has been working at Phileleftheros as an editor and cultural columnist. He has also worked as a copywriter and scriptwriter for advertising companies. He has been a member of the jury of the Cyprus Theatre Awards (THOC) and an honorary member of the Film Advisory Committee. Since 2019 he is a member of the Film Classification Council.
Charalambos Vrasidas
Executive Director, CARDET; Professor, University of Nicosia
Dr. Charalambos Vrasidas is founder and Executive Director of CARDET (www.cardet.org), an international non-profit based in Cyprus with more than two decades of global engagement. He is Professor of Learning Innovations & Policy at the University of Nicosia. A lifelong learner, a teacher, researcher, innovator, and social entrepreneur, he led the design and implementation of hundreds of initiatives and projects in more than 40 countries.
Christos Anagiotos
Director, e-Learning Pedagogical Support Unit (ePSU), University of Nicosia
Dr Christos Anagiotos (PhD) is the Director of two units at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus: the “e-Learning and Pedagogical Support Unit” (ePSU) and the “Faculty Training and Development Unit” (FTDU). He specializes in lifelong learning, faculty professional development and faculty training in the areas of adult and distance education, with more than fifteen years of experience in the field. Before joining the University of Nicosia, he held the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Adult Education and Leadership Studies at North Carolina A&T State University in the USA. He holds a dual title PhD in Lifelong Learning and Comparative International Education from the Pennsylvania State University, a Masters in Adult Learning from the University of Connecticut and a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Cyprus. His research interestes are in the areas of adult learning through technology, professional development and training, workforce education and informal ways of learning in society and the workplace.
Christos Christofides
Member of Parliament, Committee on Education, House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus
Christos Christofides was born in 1974 in occupied Morphou and lives in Palouriotissa, Nicosia. He holds a degree in Education, a degree in Political Science from the University of Cyprus and a Postgraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Warwick and in Political and Social Theory from the University of Cyprus.
He served as General Secretary of EDON, Head of the Rapprochement Bureau of AKEL and Secretary of the Student Section of EDON. He also served as Director of the Office of the President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias (2010-2013) and Deputy Government Representative in the same government.
On 2021 he was elected a Member of Parliament for the Nicosia district.
George Glossiotis
Librarian; Member, IFLA Regional Division Committee Europe; National Coordinator in Greece, Knowledge Rights 21
Georgios Glossiotis holds a degree from the Department of Librarianship (ΤΕΙ Athens) and a Post-graduate Diploma in IT and Management. Currently works for the Organisation for Mediation and Arbitration as Head of the Library and of the IT department. Member of the Association of Greek Librarians and Information Scientists since 2000, has served it from many positions as General Secretary of EC, Vice President, and President. He was elected as EC of EBLIDA and SC of MLAS. Currently, he is an elected member of the IFLA’s Regional Division Committee Europe for a second term and also, national coordinator for Greece in the project KR21.
Ioanna Panayiotou
Board Member, CSR Cyprus; Chief Operating Officer (COO), University of Limassol
Ioanna Panayiotou is a biologist, a graduate of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) and Theology. She is a Vocational Training Instructor (EEK5), holder of the "Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Professional" certificate, and "The NSMC’s (National Social Marketing Centre) Level 4 Social Marketing Award – Accredited by CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) of England. Since 2020, she has been working as COO at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM), which has evolved into the University of Limassol. From 2013 to 2019, she held the position of Commissioner for the Environment of the Republic of Cyprus. She is the National Representative of Cyprus at the European Social Marketing Association (ESMA), a member of the Leadership Council of SDSN (Cyprus branch of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network), a Board Member of the Cyprus Institute of Certified Management Consultants – CICMC, a Board Member of the National Business Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR CYPRUS), and an Honorary Member of the Biological Society of Cyprus (BEK). She is particularly involved in Sustainable Development, Green Economy and Entrepreneurship, Bio-economy, Social Economy and Entrepreneurship, Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility, social and generational justice, and issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Mina Charalambous
Director, University of Nicosia Library; board member, Cyprus Library Consortium (CALC)
Mina Charalambous is the Director of the University of Nicosia Library. Her educational background includes a bachelor's in communication studies and a master's in library science. She has spent the past 30 years in the field of librarianship, while she has served on EBSCO's advisory board since 2010. She has served on the board of directors of the Cyprus Library Consortium (CALC) since 2018. She was a board member of the Cyprus Association of Librarians and Information Scientists (CALIS) as Organizational Secretary (2008 to 2012) and since 2024 is a board member of CALIS as Secretary of International Relations.
Chrysanthi Stavrou
Librarian, Cyprus University of Technology
Chrysanthi Stavrou is a graduate of the Department of Archives and Library Science of the Ionian University. She holds a master's degree in Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. She has worked as a Librarian at the University of Cyprus and various libraries of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth of Cyprus. Since 2007, she has worked at the Library of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) in various positions, such as Head of the Subject Librarians Office and Head of the Circulation Office.
She also deals with the Library's sustainable development strategy through her participation in the 'Sustainable Development Goals Committee' and the 'Sustainable Education, Research and Development Committee' of the CUT. She has been the President of the Cyprus Association of Librarians-Information Scientists and a member of the Cyprus Library Advisory Committee.
Eleni Singou
Senior Collection Management and Development Librarian, University of Nicosia Library
Eleni Singou is the Senior Collection Management & Development Librarian at the University of Nicosia Library, where she has been working since 2011. She is responsible for the administration of the Library Services Platform, Alma, which was recently implemented, as well as other library systems. She has worked across multiple departments, including circulation, distance learning services and cataloguing. Her primary focus has been Information Literacy, where she has designed and taught credit-bearing courses, delivered tailored instructions, created guides and tutorials, and participated in relevant actions and committees. She holds a degree in Library Science and Information Systems from the International Hellenic University (formerly ATEITH), a master's degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Nicosia, and a certification in Library Instruction from the Library Juice Academy. She is an active member of the IFLA Standing Committee on Information Literacy.
Giannis Pliotas
Marketing Director, Dioptra Publications
Giannis Pliotas began working in the book industry as a writer and editor. He has published books on alternative forms of intellectual property rights. His most recent book is "Ouggrika Psaria".
He has extensively researched how social media can help make a title well-known and how strong book-loving communities are formed.
He is in charge of the imprint Elxis Publishing, which has been publishing romantic novels since 2014, and in recent years, he has helped to promote ebooks and audiobooks in Greece.
For the past five years, he has been the marketing director at Dioptra Publishing.
Felicia Hofmann
Social media team leader, dtv Publishing Company
Felicia Hofmann, who grew up in Bern (Switzerland), studied social anthropology and religious studies in Fribourg (Switzerland) before moving to Munich in 2019 to work for Burda Verlag. The planned three months have now turned into five years. After being a lifestyle journalist, she switched to digital marketing via a traineeship at dtv Verlag. She is now the social media team leader in the marketing department at dtv and supervises all strategic and planning measures on dtv Verlag's social media channels with a focus on Instagram and TikTok. dtv is represented on all relevant platforms and thus promotes the more than 400 books that dtv publishes each year. Her work focuses primarily on the young adult, new adult and fantasy genres, as the target group here is very social media savvy. dtv is known for major internationally renowned authors such as Jussi Adler-Olsen, Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros.
Dimitris Papapolyviou
Publisher, Rizes Books
Dimitris Papapolyviou grew up in a house full of books. He started reading one book after the other at a very young age, as his parents had agreed to buy him a Playstation game for each book he read. He studied law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Aberdeen and is currently a practicing lawyer specialised in international commercial disputes and energy law. He spends his free time publishing books. In 2017 he founded ‘Rizes Books’, a steadily growing publishing house based in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Sofia-Stella Christou
Boss the Third, Digital Marketing Manager, Business Development Manager, Soloneion Book Centre
Sofia was born in 1991 in Nicosia and raised in Soloneion Book Centre which was founded by her grandfather Solon Papachristodoulou in 1973, known then as Bridgehouse Bookshop. She has a BSc in Zoology, an MSc in Wildlife Management & Conservation and an MSc in Digital Marketing. Her thesis "Factors affecting consumer loyalty in independent bookstores: How well are customer needs being met?" earned her a Distinction and the top mark in her class and was later published. She is a jack-of-all-trades at work, but mostly focuses on social media, curates new product lines (by visiting fairs abroad since she was in the womb) and aids in the day to day operations of the business, with the future always in mind.
Michalis Kalamaras
Co-curator, Limassol International Book Fair Conference; publishing consultant; Head of Marketing and Content, Thinking; founder, eAnagnostis.gr
Michalis, with studies in Greek philology, has more than 15 years of experience as a book professional. Since 2013, he works in consulting, digital marketing and content development at Thinking, an Athens-based technology and design agency providing digital services and products for the book industry in Greece and abroad. Since its inception in 2022, he is co-curator of the Limassol Int’l Book Fair Conference in Cyprus. He founded eAnagnostis.gr (“e-reader” in Greek), in 2008, a news and analysis website on digital editions, ebooks and audiobooks, and the digital transformation of the book industry. He has participated in conferences and seminars including FutureBook, ReBoot Books, SIDT Books, Readmagine, Digital Publishing Summit and Let’s Talk!, and he has attended international book fairs in Abu Dhabi, Bologna, Cairo, Frankfurt, London, Sharjah and Thessaloniki. He is a member of the Network for the Research on Typography and Publishing (DETE) and of PEN Greece.
Andry Chairalla
Publisher, Evgnomon Publications; author
Andry Chairalla was born in October 1983 in Nicosia, where she still lives. He studied at the Democritus University of Thrace, in the Department of History and Ethnology.
She is the Creator of Positivity Transmission, through which she has found countless ways to help her fellow human beings. As a specialist in Self-Improvement, Personal Development and Goal Achievement, her vision is to teach skills and techniques of personal development and success to everyone.
As an author, she unfolds her thoughts, experiences and concerns in her books. She made her maiden appearance in the world of words with her book “Anastasia Struggling with Schizophrenia”. This was followed by the "Gratitude & Vision Journal", "Positivity Transmission", "30+1 Ways To Spend Quality Time With Your Children". Her latest work "Stefanos, Everything Begins Again".. Ακολούθησε το «Ημερολόγιο Ευγνωμοσύνης & Οραμάτων», η «Θετική Μεταδοτικότητα», το «30+1 Τρόποι Για Να Περνάς Ποιοτικό Χρόνο Με Τα Παιδιά Σου». Το τελευταίο της έργο έχει τίτλο «Στέφανος, Όλα αρχίζουν ξανά».
Her love for books led her to the creation of the Grateful Publishing House, where the inspiration of each author turns into a real creation.
Tatiana Fragkouli
Director, KOMPOT bookstore
Tatiana Fragkouli is the owner of KOMPOT bookshop. Her business first started 7 years ago with sales through Instagram and had an enormous development throughout these years.
Tatiana created her business with the passion for kids’ literature, as she had 4 children of her own. Now KOMPOT is much more than a children’s bookstore. Tatiana’s personal interests in art, cooking, crafts, history and healthcare made a huge impact on book selection in her shops. Now KOMPOT is also an online store. There are two physical shops in Cyprus (Limassol and Nicosia).
What is most important for Tatiana is to promote a positive image of reading and encourage people to love and admire books.
Anna Ioannidou
Co-founder, Limassol International Book Fair; Founder, Apotipomata.com; poet
Anna Ioannidou is one of the founders at Limassol International Book Fair. Since 2021, she practices Counseling and Psychotherapy, while she has studies in English Language, Psycholinguistics, Human Resources and Counseling & Psychotherapy.
She worked for 8 years at Heart Group where she was the Head of Partnerships and Communication at Reflect festival for 4 years. Reflect is the largest technology and innovation festival organized in Cyprus. www.apotipomata.com.
Since 2016 she runs the Poetry and Literature blog Apotipomata, while in 2022 she published her first poetry collection Apotipomata (Armida Publications).
Hanife İçten
Key Account Manager for English-Language World, Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye & Azerbaijan, Frankfurt Book Fair
Hanife was born in a village near Kütahya, Turkey, close to Aizanoi. She came to Germany at 9 months old and considers herself a cosmopolit and a Greek by heart. She lived in Cologne until University and she studied at Münster, Cardiff (Wales), Strassburg and Frankfurt am Main. Hanife holds a Masters in English Philology and loves reading in German, English and Turkish. She Started working for Frankfurt Book Fair in the year 2000. Since 2017 she has been responsible for customers from the English-language world, Cyprus, Greece, Türkiye and Azerbaijan. She lives currently on a remote German island in the North Sea, where no cars or other vehicles are allowed.
Emma House
Publishing consultant, Orenham Group; ex-Board Member, PubisHer; Publishing lead, Shimmr AI
Emma House is an international publishing consultant with a focus on curating events, business development, publishing research and project management. Emma started her career in magazine publishing before taking on various senior roles at the London Book Fair and then the UK Publishers Association where she was Deputy CEO. Emma is a former board member of the PublisHer advisory board, a trustee of the Publishing Training Centre and a member of the advisory board of the Oxford Brookes University publishing school.
Nenad Bogdanovic
Planning and Development Coordinator, Head of Creative Europe Desk Cyprus, Organization for European Programmes and Cultural Relations (OEPCR)
With over 20 years of experience in international cultural cooperation and EU cultural and youth funding programmes, Nenad Bogdanovic is Planning and Development Coordinator at the Organisation for European Programmes and Cultural Relations (OEPCR). In that capacity, he serves as Head of Creative Europe Desk Cyprus, National Contact Points for “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values” (CERV) programme and New European Bauhaus. Also, he serves as Focal Point of the Cyprus national member of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and similar global initiatives operated by the OEPCR.
Persa Koumoutsi
Translator of Arabic literature; Director, initiative Center of Greek and Arabic Literature and Culture (K.EL.A.L.P.); author
Persa Koumoutsi, writer and translator of Arabic literature, with more than 50 translation works and 9 personal novels. Among her achievements is the participation in European programs aiming to promote and enhance the visibility of Arabic literature in Europe and the writing of independent studies on Arabic lit in Greek language. In 2020 she co-establishes the Centre of Greek and Arabic literature and culture, an independent initiative that aims to promote and strengthen the intercultural relations between the two cultures, through targeted events, meetings and programs to inform/raise awareness about Greek and Arabic literature, prose and poetry. In 2023 she launched the first on- line courses for literary translation of Arabic texts into Greek language. Among her distinctions and awards: the Kavafi International Award for translation, the Sheikh Hamad Achievement Award for Literary Translation and International Understanding, the Translation Guilt Award (twice), a commendation by the Academy of Athens and the Nikos Themelis Award for literature.
Haris Ioannides
Co-founder, Limassol International Book Fair; publisher, Armida Books; Board Member, Cyprus Publishers Association
Haris Ioannides grew up in Nicosia, Cyprus and studied in Canada and the US. He has been in charge of Armida Books for over 22 years. He has dedicated his professional life to promoting Cypriot authors overseas, with Armida now boasting several titles in translation in over a dozen languages. He is also one of the founders of the Limassol International Book Fair, a member of the board of the Cyprus Publishers Association, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Cyprus Library.
Established in 1997, Armida is a multiple award-winning indie publisher based in Nicosia, Cyprus. Armida publishes intelligent contemporary Fiction and distinguished Non-Fiction of the highest standard, by both local and international authors, with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean region. After receiving the EUPL prize in 2011, Armida became and has since remained one of the leading exporter of literary rights of Cypriot Greek literature overseas.
Argyris Kastaniotis
Publisher, Kastaniotis Editions; Vice President of the Association of Greek Publishers and Booksellers (EN.EL.VI.)
Argyris Kastaniotis is director general and head of digital strategy at Kastaniotis Editions. He studied in London publishing production and management (BSc Hons Graphic Media Studies, PGDip New Media Production). He participated in the conferences on digital edition Tools of Change in New York and Frankfurt and Future by The Bookseller magazine in London. He served as Secretary General of the National Book Centre of Greece (E.KE.BI) and he currently serves as Vice President of the Association of Greek Publishers and Booksellers (EN.EL.VI.), Board Member of Hellenic Foundation for Book and Culture (EL.I.VI.P.) and Board Member of Greek Collecting Society for Literary Works (O.S.D.E.L.).
Abdel-Wahab Khalifa
Associate Professor in Translation and Interpreting, Queen’s University Belfast
Abdel-Wahab Khalifa is a Senior Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting at Queen’s University Belfast, with an extensive career in academia as well as in professional translation and interpreting. He holds a PhD in Translation Studies and Arabic from the University of Leeds, where he researched the constraints involved in the production and reception of Arabic literary translations into English. Khalifa was a Harry Ransom Fellow in the Humanities (2019–2023) and is actively involved in various professional organisations. He is a member of both the Executive Board of the Association for Translation Studies in Africa and the IATIS Regional Workshop Committee. He also serves on the Editorial Board of The Translator journal and has published extensively on Arabic translation, including a forthcoming monograph on the socio-cultural history of translating modern Arabic fiction into English.
Fatimah Abbas
Publishing consultant, FALA Agency
Fatimah Abbas is an esteemed international publishing consultant and literary translator. Her journey began in 2014 at the Cairo International Book Fair, where she managed the English and French learning books section, fueling her passion for the industry. She later became Head of External Relations and Translation at a leading Cairo publishing house.
She has translated 32 literary works and founded her literary agency, FALA, offering services from publishing to marketing. Fatimah also served as MENA Regional Director for an AI company. Her achievements have earned her features in international magazines and media outlets, including being shortlisted for the London Book Fair Excellence Award in 2021.
An active member of the General Egyptian Book Organization (GEBO), Fatimah also co-founded Publishers Without Borders (PWB) and speaks at renowned events like Sharjah Reads and the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Outside of publishing, she collaborates with the Children Empowerment initiative with the Kalimat Foundation, providing educational materials to children. She also hosts the Cairo Calling fellowship during the Cairo International Book Fair.
Andrey Mishenev
CEO and co-founder, ABP Publishing and Booka
Andrey Mishenev studied as engineer-physicist at National Research Nuclear University (MEPHI) in Moscow and early on in his career turned to digital projects for books and education as a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded and served as Chief Development Officer at TeachVideo.ru, an educational videos production and distribution service, and as CEO at Bookee, a digital books distribution service. Based today in Limassol, Cyprus, he is the CEO of three companies he has co-founded: ABP Publishing, an audiobook production company in European languages; LoudBook, which specialises in audiobook production and distribution; and Booka, a platform with with educational e-books for children from 0 to 9.
Anne Bergman-Tahon
Director, Federation of European Publishers (FEP)
Anne Bergman-Tahon has worked to support the European publishing community through her role as Director of the Federation of European Publishers since 2004. Anne is a medieval historian by training coupled with a legal degree in issues pertaining to IP law. She unsurprisingly loves reading, but also going to art shows and exhibitions, watching ballets, movies or listening to concerts.