Leyteris Papadopoulos

Lefteris Papadopoulos was born in Athens in 1935. His parents were refugees. He grew up in a courtyard below Kyriakou Square (Victoria Square). He entered the University of Athens (Law School) but dropped out in his third year to pursue journalism. Since 1959, he has been working at "Ta Nea." For the past twenty-five years, he has been the newspaper's columnist. He has been honored with the journalism award from the Union of Athens Daily Newspaper Journalists (ESIEA), the Botsis Award, and the prestigious "Xenophon" Award. The Municipality of Athens has honored him twice with the Medal of the City for his contributions to culture. He declined, on principle, to be decorated by the President of the Republic. In 1963, he ventured into songwriting. To date, he has written the lyrics for 1,200 songs. He collaborated with some of the best musicians and singers, including Theodorakis, Kaldaras, Kougioumtzis, Plessas, Spanos, Hatzinasios, Kazantzidis, Bithikotsis, Alexiou, Moscholiou, Marinella, Poly Panou, Mitropanos, and many others. He also wrote three plays and dozens of songs for theater and cinema. He worked on television with his own shows. Many of his writings have been published. His books include: "Provinces of Athens," "Turkey Without a Veil," "The Dirty '89," "My Songs," "Manos Loizos," "Glances," "Song of Songs," "The Old Classmates," "I Live Out of Curiosity," and "Everything is a Lie." He is married to director Raya Mouzenidou and has two children, Notis and Iakinthi.