A good writer of young adult books, therefore, is not just a good storyteller but a great poet. And through her enviable capacity
for what is simple and essential, for what is musi-cal and fascinating, for the magical and the playful, she is also a sort of philosopher, a psychotherapist and a disseminator of the ancient art of narrating myths. Maria Papayan-ni, hence, is all this.
--Krystalli Glyniadakis, poet, translator

Maria Papayanni paints many overlapping worlds with great craftsmanship. Everything is at its place. Maria Papayanni herself,
her whole self, is there too. Cervantes is there, and Marquez is there, (Greek poet) Kavvadias is there, and the music of Thanos Mikroutsikos is there too. The world of poverty and marginality, the world of art, the world of orphans and refugees, the world of bullies, the world of cats, the world of the sea, of the sky, and the seabed, the world of imagination, of dreams, and of fairy tales: the world in its EN-TIRETY is there.
--Lily Lambrelli, writer, storyteller

★Rights sold: North Macedonia, Russia.
★The book won Greek IBBY Award!
★Full English translation available.

Rosa and her father grew up together, and her father was a fisherman, but he secretly wrote poetry. At one point, under the torment of evil thoughts, she would follow the one-eyed cat Gambito to a continent that was preparing for war, for a reason that is easily imaginable as the stupidest reason: to save the disappearing language. Before that, Rosa had never thought that languages could disappear, and fairy tales, songs, and dreams would disappear with them. Now she must decide whether she dares to raise her status and fight for her cause around the world.

A book about poetry, about small miracles and great struggles, about searching for utopia, and about the ordinary people who persist in their dreams.

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.