By Afroditi Lakkiotis
 |
| Sam Chekwas |
One of the most well known sights in Astoria is the Greek bookstore owned by Sam Chekwas. This is the only Greek bookstore in New York! Seaburn is situated on 33-18 Broadway and offers a variety of Greek books. Topics include ancient literature and history, modern literature and history, biographies, studies even art books. Books are written in Greek and English.
48- year-old owner Sam Chekwas is a Nigerian who feels Greek. He is fluent in Greek. He was a student in Nigeria, when he read the tragedy “Antigoni” in English. From then on he became a huge supporter of the Greek spirit. In the 1980′s he came to Greece to study and learn the Greek language. After becoming a dentist, he left Thessaloniki and travelled to America to meet his brothers. In 1992, he invented Seaburn publications. He has already published 120 Greek books, including an anthology entitled Salonica Press. In 1994, he inaugurated his bookstore which offers about 7,000 books. Who reads them? “They order them to me, and then I deliver them everywhere there is a Greek population.”, adds Sam. Recently there is a decline in selling books as they are very expensive in America.
