Sotiris Pastakas

Sotiris Pastakas was born in Larissa on December 13, 1954. He studied medicine in Rome and specialized in psychiatry at the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica (Dafni). From 1985, he worked as a psychiatrist in Athens for thirty years. He is one of the founding members of the "Society for Behavioral Research." In 1981, he published his first four poems in the literary magazine "To Dentro" (issue 20, April 1981), where he was a regular contributor until 1987. Since 1988, he has been a regular contributor to the literary magazine "Planodion." He has also contributed to the magazines "Tetradia Psychiatry," "The World of Books," "To Paramiliito," "Sparmos," "Poetry," "Mandragoras," "Nea Estia," as well as the online magazine "Metatheseis." In 1994, he was elected a member of the Society of Authors. In June 2001, he represented Greece at the founding of the "World Poetry Academy" in Verona, under the auspices of UNESCO. In September 2001, he was hosted at Hawthornden Castle, International Retreat for Writers, near Edinburgh. In 2002, he created and has since directed the online poetry review www.poiein.gr. He has published fourteen poetry collections, a theatrical monologue, a book of essays, and translations of Italian poets. His work has been translated into twelve languages, and his book "Food Line" was published in the USA in 2015.