10-12 OCTOBER 2025
Lifesaving Books – The Comforting, Awakening Power of Literature
15:40
EXPERIENCE LABORATORY
with Elena Pericleous
Description- Discover books Lifebuoys
The experiential workshop entitled "Lifesaving Books - The Comforting, Awakening
"Power of Literature" invites children to experience literature as
apangio, as an emotional lifeline in difficult times. In a symbolic space, shaped as a Sea of Books with lifelines and picture books, children welcome the idea that books can save them. Through a personal narrative of how punishment was transformed into a magical journey
reading, they are encouraged to share their own experiences. Then, each child chooses a life jacket, reads it, and keeps a key word or quote from it. The creative phase includes decorating a personal life jacket, with elements inspired by the book that held them?. The workshop culminates in a sharing and farewell cycle, where each child symbolically donates their life jacket to a future shipwrecked person by offering a book and a comforting phrase as a wish. A workshop on empathy, comfort, and the power of
narrative.
Aimed at children aged 6-12
BRIEF CV
Elena Pericleous is the Cultural Education Coordinator at the Deputy Ministry of Culture of Cyprus, with a degree in Pedagogy and a postgraduate degree in Environmental Education. She deeply believes that literature is a lifeline – a medium that supports, comforts and awakens. Through her role, she designs actions that bring children and young people closer to the power of stories.
She writes for children and adults, writes regularly and chairs the Cyprus Book Board for Children and Young People (IBBY Cyprus). For her, books are not a luxury – they are a necessity. They are a way to stay afloat when everything seems to be sinking.
Organizers
