Crossing Border is hugely excited to announce that BorderKitchen will be hosting the first interview and book launch for legendary Dutch author Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer as he presents his most ambitious novel yet: Alkibiades, a tour de force examining the life and times of the most beautiful man in classical Greece.

This monumental, richly documented historical novel – published May 23 – tells the true story of the struggles and failures of Alkibiades, the extravagant, dazzling, androgynous, bisexual, and controversial politician and strategist of Athens during the great war against Sparta. His story is a journey through time plunging us back nearly two and a half millennia to the decline of democracy in Athens, in a story with unmistakable modern parallels.

What role did Alkibiades play in this decline? Was he a populist who dismantled democracy, or could he have been the saviour of Athens? Alkibiades is both a learned historical study and a great novel for our time and every time, telling a story as unique as it is universal about the pursuit of ambition in an imperfect world. Find out more at: https://www.alkibiades.nl/

At this special BorderKitchen book launch event, Jelle van Riet will conduct the first interview with Pfeijffer about Alkibiades, followed by a book signing by Pfeijffer.

Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer is a poet, classicist and the author of modern classics such as La Superba, Letters from Genoa and Grand Hotel Europa.