The Again
An Illustrated book for adults
Patakis Publications | 2015 | Illustrations: Lila Kalogeri
The Again is an illustrated book for adults who are in love, but not exclusively for them… Through Makis Tsitas’s playful mood and wordplay, the simple phrases and moments shared by couples acquire a meaning and essence that reach the bounds of poetry. A tiny little creature named Again wanders into the world of humans and becomes a part of their lives. The Again is identical to the other half, mine, yours, anyone’s really… The humorous expressions that come directly from daily experiences become the lever through which love and affection between enamored couples is affirmed… The book revolves around instances full of joy and sadness, laughter and agitation, all the elements, in other words, which make the life of two people in love interesting…
You will definitely recognize a part of yourself in this short story as well… Running around all day, anxious and vexed and exhausted; but the moment you see it, the moment you see your Again, you forget about everything else. In this book you will find moments to relive over and over Again… Read about the Agains, who were born from the imaginations of author, Makis Tsitas, and illustrator, Lila Kalogeri. And don’t ever stop searching for your own Again…
Short-listed for the Public Awards
Critical Reviews
“…this is the contemporary Bible for the enamored in a picture book.”
Apostolos Pappos, elniplex.com, 11/02/17
“You read this book Again and Again, and then you offer it as a gift along with a dedication to your own Again; to the one you have or the one you wish you will find one day, to your other half or to an entire part of your own self, which has to be loved in order to be able to love in its turn […] Makis Tsitas’s The Again is a playful creature that looks like romantic love. You adore it. Mainly because it’s not perfect, even if it is a creature of divine nature. This is, perhaps, the reason why the illustrator dreamt of it as a perfectly round creature, with no sharp edges…”
Liana Denezaki, kosvoice.gr, June 2016
“Tsitas and Kalogeri, each in their own way, give us a great incentive to play a little bit and think more about the fact that what is most important of all is life itself. They make us consider that all problems have their solution, that the effort to solve them reinforces the buttresses that help us block any sort of collapse, and, finally, they make us think that if there is anything that is worth the trouble at all it is life itself, which always moves forward unimpeded.”
Anthoula Daniil, frear.gr, 22/02/16
“Imagination, inventiveness and originality are the words that best characterize Makis Tsitas’s playful little book. It is a book full of love, love for everyone, young and old, for children who dream about interpreting the… Again in their own way, but also for people who are in love. It is a book full of love for adults who discover their own desires, their Agains, and their weaknesses; their I’m-sorries, their maybes, their angers and their joys. It is a book full of love for the moments both small and great that will forever be replete with… Agains!”
Eleni Beteinaki, zhtunteanagnostes.blogspot.gr, 19/02/16
“This is such a cute ornament indeed! The book is playful and real, simple, lively, charming, deeply moving and didactic. The Again comes into our lives as a remedy for sadness, almost necessary in order to cheer us up and make our day… With The Again the author offers us a gift, an equally original, inventive, and inspiring story of deeds, a sauciness, a vivacity, a story created with simple ingredients for people who are in love and in-love-once-more, for those who will fall in love again, but also for those who will want to fall in love again and, and, and… It is a story about all those things that the Again is and all that it could be for our sake, but also all those things that we are and could be for it.”
Eleni Lintzaropoulou, propaganda.gr, 10/02/16
“The Again could be loved by a child for its playful hero, but in reality, it offers an adult the chance and reason to see everyday life through a different set of eyes.”
Manos Kontoleon, Bookia.gr, 08/02/16
“This is a one-of-a-kind tender book for people who are in love, although not solely for them.”
Dina Sarakinou, literature.gr, 23/01/16
“Makis Tsitas dares to speak about emotions that endure but are condemned to fight with a rather insensitive epoch and all the conveniences it favors. He dares to speak about our other half, the one that suits us and which we suit, the one who is devoted to us, our person, the one who is in love with us. He dares to speak about the creature that governs our lives with laws and rules of its own and unsettles us in the sweetest of ways. He names the creature Again, while Lila Kalogeri convivially impresses its image on paper, endowing it with flesh and bones. She gives it shape and color, and she renders it familiar in the eyes of the reader.”
Asimina Xirogianni, varelaki.blogspot.gr, 17/01/16
“The legendary Again is an ingenious book, a book to offer as a magical gift to your Again-Beloved-Man or your Again-Beloved-Woman, for them to have a magic birthday or name-day with The Again, and to read it Again and Again on every occasion that flows like water and flees once Again each time!”
Eleni Choreanthi, fractalart.gr, 06/01/16
“…Because The Again is a book that is interpreted differently by each reader, like a painting or a poem. And although many adults from my circle of acquaintances who read it have told me that the Again is love, romance, and even our own self, my son (4th grader) told me that the Again is 'mom'.”
Chrysa Kouraki, lesxhanagnosis.blogspot.gr, 08/02/16
“Again and again The Again resembles and reminds us of love, of apology, of consolation that is and has been, aiming to become the lighthouse in the lives of the living who love and are loved. It is a story that whether as a whole, or fragmented, promotes its Again which is there, front and center, ready to look you in the eye once more; then and only then will the reader wonder, only then look once again in the mirror in order to finally see himself/herself again, and manage to say to his/her partner all the things that he/she never speaks because of all the running all day long. Yet is also a book that can encourage the other to speak these words, or even encourage you to speak them to yourself.”
Elena Artzanidou, thinkfree.gr, 09/04/16
“The author Makis Tsitas was inspired this time by the most powerful of emotions, and in a rather insinuative manner he offers us, through his powerful, simple and playful style, a book that will help us express our love to our own Again.”
Ioanna Oikonomou, New Sage, 22/12/15