CHristoforos Milionis
Christoforos Milionis (1932-2017) was born in Peristeri Pogoniou, in the Ioannina region. He attended the Zosimaia School and studied philology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He served in secondary education in Greece and Cyprus as a teacher, principal, and school counselor. He was a member of the working group that compiled the "Texts of Modern Greek Literature" for middle and high school, and a member of the editorial teams of the Ioannina magazines "Endochora" and "Dokimasia." He made his literary debut in 1954 with a short story in the magazine "Ipirotiki Estia." This was followed by his short story collections, which are considered some of the most important of the genre in the second half of the 20th century: "Parafonia" (1961), "The Centaur's Shirt" (1971), "The Stories of Trial" (1978), "The Centaur's Shirt and Other Stories" (1982, collected edition), "Kalamás and Acheron" (1985), "Elevator Operator" (1993), "Small is Beautiful" (1997), "The Ghosts of York" (1999), "A Lost Taste" (1999), "Photogenic" (2002), "Akrokeravnia" (1976), "The Motel. Comet Hairdresser" (2005), and the novels: "Western District" (1980), "Silvestros" (1987). He also wrote philological studies, essays, and translated texts from ancient Greek. Many of his articles were published in "Philological Kathimerini" and later in "Nea." His work was honored with the State Short Story Award (1986), the Short Story Award from the magazine "Diavazo" (2000), and the Short Story Award from the Ouranis Foundation of the Academy of Athens (2005). A founding member of the Society of Authors, he was married to the French Philology professor Tatiana Tsaliki-Milioni. He passed away in Athens on January 5, 2017, at the age of 84.
Critic Alexis Ziras wrote about Christoforos Milionis's work: "Central to all his prose is memory, the boundless and ever-moving time of recollection and reminiscence. Everything happens there, as almost all his stories start from personal experiences and then expand through the author's imagination, using characters who narrate on his behalf. [...] The environment plays a central role in Milionis's small and large stories, usually the extra-urban space, the hinterland of Ioannina, and its natural landscape, where he began to form his consciousness and where he acquired his youthful and childhood experiences, almost always linked to the heavy imprint of the history of the Occupation and the Civil War, and their dramatic impact on people's lives. [...] The measured, tormented, ascetic microcosm of Epirus became, through its literary representation, a world of creative imagination that readers lovingly made their own. This literary space became, book by book, a field of nostalgic refuge, a catharsis from the decay of urban life, a redemption from the leveling and impersonal rhythm of city life. Even when not geographically named, it is clearly implied by the evocative description of the rugged, mountainous landscape and the primordial relationships of the people. From the elegiac emotional disposition of those who lived there in extremely frugal conditions but rich in inner life."
(Source: Society of Authors)
