The texts in this volume were written, and most of them read before an audience on various occasions: the tribute to the 70th anniversary of the death of K. P. Cavafy, the celebration of 40 years of presence in literature by Menis Koumandareas, the long-awaited publication of the diary kept by Giannis Beratis from 1940 to 1967, the new edition of "Exostis" by Nikos Kachtitsis in 2012, the presentation of some contemporary writers, the publication and presentation of their books.

Occasional and timely texts and studies, that is, scattered, and some by commission, but for people beloved to the author and for books that interested him. The art of discourse circulates in interconnected vessels.

The spoken and written word, which tells and seeks to convince, is almost the same in its basic characteristics in all its versions. The lawyer, the orator, the essayist, the journalist, even the petition writer we used to meet outside public offices, and the prose writer undoubtedly, and generally all of us who earn our living through writing and discourse, to varying degrees, seek acceptance.

We write and speak because we want to convince someone, some people, the whole world.