Spyros Tsaknias

The poet, translator, essayist, and literary critic Spyros Tsaknias (1929-1999) was born in Lamia. He studied economics in Athens and attended film courses. After the war, he worked as a journalist but later pursued a career as an executive in a pharmaceutical company. Following the political changeover in Greece, he focused on literary criticism. He made his literary debut in 1951 with the poem "Letter to a Poet," published in the newspaper "Democratic Press." He was a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Letters and Arts," contributed to anthologies of interwar and postwar literature published by Sokolis, and served as the director of the series "The Poets of the World" by Egnatia Publications. He collaborated with many literary magazines ("The Tree," "The Word," "Raft," "Tram," "Reading"), as well as newspapers ("Avgi," "Kathimerini," "Proti," "Ta Nea"). He was married to the poet and translator Amalia Tsaknias. He passed away in Athens in 1999.