Come in my place

The people of the Solidarity and Exchange Network of Agia Paraskevi decided to go beyond their daily social action in the neighborhood and address the entire nation by announcing a literary competition for short stories on the theme - what else? - Solidarity.

Through a captivating process that engaged hundreds of people, they managed to become collective publishers of this book, which includes the 20 stories that stood out in the competition.

This unique book is intended to become a tool... of solidarity, as its sale is primarily conducted by unemployed and homeless individuals, following the model of the exemplary magazine "Shedia".

Solidarity is not an easy topic for a short story competition at all. It may be suitable for a school essay, but in the realm of literature, it presents quite a few obstacles. Didacticism, the projection of positive examples, the one-dimensional "conflict of good and evil" are not conducive to writing exciting and thoughtful stories.

You are forced to bypass the obvious, to create conditions of uncertain and fluid situations where good and evil are not distinct, where the element of some sort of reversal is interposed.

The joy of the committee members and the entire Network was intense as they gradually realized that the number of entries was growing and growing, eventually reaching 168 short stories!

Even more overwhelming was their joy when they discovered that most contestants had managed to beautifully navigate the obstacles posed by the theme, to seize the circumstances of the crisis by the hair, not to save themselves but to conceive a collective redemption.