Nils was a lazy and ill-mannered boy who treated people and animals badly. Flying with the wild geese for a whole year, he will have great adventures and will return wiser and full of love for all creatures inhabiting the same planet. Maria Papayanni tells children Selma Lagerlöf’s masterpiece, like a fairytale. A boy, a flock of wild geese, an eagle, will meet in the clouds and share adventures, fears, enemies. They will discover the joy of caring for who and what you love and believe in.
Maria Papayanni retells her favorite all-time classics like a fairytale.

Maria Papayanni (Author)
She studied Greek Language and Literature and worked as a journalist in radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.
Her first book was published in 2001. Ever since she has devoted herself to writing stories, fairy tales, and novels. She loves magical, traditional tales and narrates them to children when she visits schools. She also loves theatre and has penned librettos and verses for musical theatre. Her first book, "Goodnight, Mama," was published in 2001, the same year her second child was born. Her books have enjoyed great success with children and have won numerous awards in Greece, including:
· In 2002, she co-authored "Catch them!" with Philippos Mandilaras, which won the Merit Award by the Greek section of IBBY.
· "As If By Magic" won Greek IBBY Award and the Diavazo Literary Magazine Award
· "The Lonesome Tree" won the State Prize and the Diavazo Literary Magazine Award.
"You Will Win Another Day" has been translated into multiple languages.
· She was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2020 and 2022.

After all, she believes that books have wings:
“Children know well that when the sentence Once upon a time is uttered the door opens to the place where anything may happen. And children need the world of imagination in order to understand everyday life and its difficulties.”

In her own words:
I was born in Larissa, under Mount Olympus, where the 12 gods of antiquity lived.
I grew up in a large family where everyone had the gift of telling stories. Not fairy tales, but everyday life stories, which were told over huge tables in the summer; stories would add taste in our life, the way salt and pepper add flavour to our food. I recall tears alternating with laughter. These stories seemed to me like miracles, because they could release great powers. I don’t mean to say that everyone in my family was a bit of a liar, but exaggeration was something common. That’s how I came to believe that in the quiet, provincial town where I was growing up anything could happen. Growing up, instead of confessing to myself that my family used to exaggerate, I chose to believe that we were ‘special’ and ‘unique’. And I also decided that this was the only way I could tolerate reality and put up with everyday difficulties. By making up stories…
With stories, I have always had a season ticket in my pocket which allowed me to freely come and go between everyday life and the land where… anything may happen.