9-11 OCTOBER 2026
John's blanket
18:40
Interactive Presentation
Constantia Sotiriou and Chrysa Michael
"John's Blanket" by Constantia Sotiriou is a particularly moving children's book about solidarity, refugeehood, memory and human sacrifice . It is the author's first children's book and was published in 2024 by Telia Publications, with illustrations by Renia Metallinou.Description
Eight-year-old Martha lives in Cyprus and decides to write to a child who is far from home and is going through a difficult time. She sends him her beloved doll, Cindy, but also a warm blanket that belonged to her father. This blanket has its own story: years before, another child, John, had offered it to her family during the difficult days of the war. Thus, a simple blanket becomes a thread that unites children of different times and different places , transferring warmth, solidarity and hope from hand to hand. Through the eyes of a child, Constantia Sotiriou talks about the experience of being a refugee in Cyprus, but also about the people who are forced to abandon their homes and homelands today. The story is actually based on a real family experience of the author: a blanket that was given to her family by the Red Cross after the 1974 invasion.
Constantia Sotiriou was born in Nicosia. She is a graduate of the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Cyprus and holds a postgraduate degree in Middle Eastern History from the University of Manchester. She works at the Press and Information Office of the Republic of Cyprus.
Her novel Aise Goes on Vacation (Patakis Publications, 2015) was awarded the Athens Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the State Awards of Cyprus and Greece; Voices from the Soil (Patakis Publications, 2017) was shortlisted for the State Awards of Cyprus and Greece. Her novella Bitter Country (Patakis Publications, 2019) was shortlisted by the magazine O Anagnostis, shortlisted for the Greek State Awards, awarded the Cyprus State Award in the Short Story/Novel category and was nominated for the European Prize for Literature 2021. Brandy Sour (Patakis Publications, 2022) was awarded the Cyprus State Award in the Novel category, and was published in English (Foundry Editions, June 2023) and is in the process of being published in French (Editions Heloise d'Ormesson). Her most recent work published by Patakis Publications is the novel The Head of Chatsworth (2025). She was named the winner of the 2019 Commonwealth Literary Prize for the Europe and Canada region, as well as the global winner of the competition for her short story "Death Customs", which is part of Bitter Country.
She has also written the children's book John's Blanket (Teleia, 2024), as well as plays for independent stages and the Cyprus Theatre Organization. She has participated in short story anthologies in Cyprus and abroad. Her short stories have been translated into English, French, Japanese, Serbian, Danish and Italian.