A Philadelphia-born bookseller has done something no one else on Hydra managed to do: bring Greek newspapers back to the...

A Philadelphia-born bookseller has done something no one else on Hydra managed to do: bring Greek newspapers back to the island. Josh Hickey, a former Cartier executive with a literature background, first visited Hydra in 2009 and kept coming back until the island became home. After the pandemic, Hickey launched the Hydra Book Club, a pop-up bookshop inside the Historical Archive Museum of Hydra. This year he took it further, opening the Hydra Bookstore, a permanent shop right on the harbor carrying Greek and foreign titles, magazines, small objects, and games. The newspapers turned out to be the most talked-about part. For over a year before Hickey's store opened, the island's traditional newsstand had stopped stocking Greek papers, selling only foreign press. Hydra had no Kathimerini. Hickey brought it back after residents and customers asked him to. He says the decision changed the mornings on the island. Neighbors and friends now stop in daily, and he regularly hears how happy people are to hold a physical newspaper again rather than read it on a screen. "Hydra remains an island of readers," he told Kathimerini, describing the store as a place where locals and visitors can meet writers and artists from Greece and abroad. Hickey traces his attachment to the island through its literary tradition, which he says has run unbroken for over a century. The Hydra Bookstore sits on the harbor in a high-traffic spot, with an aesthetic that reflects its owner's taste down to the window display. #Hydra #Greece #GreekCulture