Gabriel Athiros runs Historical Media which publishes the Cape Odyssey as well as other historical texts dealing with history in the local Cape.
ILW met up with Gabriel Athiros before the launch of the latest Cape Odyssey featuring WOODSTOCK, Cape Town’s earliest suburb at BLANK BOOKS in Woodstock tomorrow (Wednesday 28 May).
He will be giving a short overview of this very interesting suburb at the LAUNCH.
ILW: How did get you first become involved in history?
GA: In 2000, I discovered the stories behind Cape history and fell in love with them. I had gone to help a friend who ran a historic newspaper called the Cape Chronicle and I was so in love with the idea that I started my own historical newspaper. The same year, the Cape Odyssey was launched as a tabloid and ran until 2012 producing 100 editions in total.
ILW: But you have also published books as well as the Cape Odyssey tabloid?
GA: Historical media produced its first book in 2007 and about 16 books in total relating to Cape History including the original Woodstock book based on articles from the Woodstock Whisperer.
ILW: What are your plans with Cape Odyssey now that the newspaper run is complete?
GA: Going into the future, we will be producing 2 books per annum, each book dedicated to a specific area. 101 was a general overview of Cape history, 102 was dedicated to the South Peninsula, and now 103 is about Woodstock.
ILW: Tell us a little about the Woodstock book.
GA: Cape Odyssey 103 featuring Woodstock is based on articles from the first book (now out of print) with additional content and new pictorials. We are launching the book at Blank Books on Wednesday 29 May, and I’ll be giving an overview of the book at the launch tomorrow. I can truly say that Woodstock is such a fascinating, interesting, colorful and complex place as you will see when read the book!
ILW: Many thanks for the chat, Gabriel.
GA: Thank you.