Tina's Web

GREEK IBBY WINNER - ORIGINAL TITLE CONSTANTINA AND HER SPIDERS Tina’s life in Germany had been so happy, it never occurred to her that one day her parents might split. Or – worse still – send her back to Greece to live with her grandmother! But she’s stopped listening to her and her three annoying friends.

Tina doesn’t mind anything anymore. She’s found the answer. With the help of her friend Wick, and a really amazing little blue pill… then lots more amazing little pills… then lots of really incredible lies…

Sometimes it’s as if she’s in heaven, sometimes she’s crashing back down to earth, and now – there’s no return. Or is there?

Alki Zei (b.December 15, 1923, Athens, Greece - d.February 27, 2020, Athens, Greece, was a distinguished Greek novelist and writer of children's literature. She fought for the Resistance against the German occupation in World War II. She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens, then during the Civil War fled to the Soviet Union. She studied at the Theater Drama School (Odeion) in Athens and at the scenography department of the Moscow Institute of Cinematography VGIK. From 1954 to 1964 she lived in the Soviet Union as a political refugee . In 1964, she and her family returned to Greece, but all left again when the junta took power in 1967. This time she remained in Paris, returning only after the fall of the dictatorship. Alki Zei started writing at a very young age. In her high school years, she began writing plays for puppets . Her first novel, 'The Tiger in the Shop Window' ( Το Καπλάνι της Βιτρίνας ), (1963) was inspired by her childhood in Samos and is semi-autobiographical. A series of children's books followed, and in 1987 her first adult novel, 'Achilles' Bride' (Η αρραβωνιαστικιά του Αχιλλέα), appeared . Her books have been translated into many languages. Her novel for teenagers 'Tina's Web' ( Η σνσταντίνα και οι αράχνες της ) won the IBBY prize in Greece for best book for older children and Alki Zei was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and the Astrid Lindgren Prize for literature. She was awarded the Mildred L. Batchelder Prize for the English translation and publication in the United States of America of 'Wildcat Under Glass' (1970), 'Petros' War' (1974) and 'The Sound of the Dragon's Feet' (1980). She was awarded the National Award for Children's Literature (Greece) in 1992.

John Thornley is a translator, radio producer and arts consultant who has made many radio programmes for the BBC.