Foteini Stefanidi

Fotini Stefanidi was born in Athens in 1962. Her first exposure to art came through her father, the painter Giannis Stefanidis. She began her studies at the age of sixteen, initially focusing on drawing, and later on painting and fresco at the Athens School of Fine Arts under the guidance of Yiannis Moralis, Dimitris Mytaras, and Konstantinos Xynopoulos. Alongside her studies, she engaged in printmaking and book design, as well as in the overall curation of publications, and more recently, in photography. Since 1988, she has held fourteen solo exhibitions in painting, printmaking, and illustration in Greece, Belgium, and Germany, and has participated in numerous group and international exhibitions both in Greece and abroad. Her contributions to international illustration and ex-libris events are notable, including those in Bologna, Tehran, Bratislava, Tokyo, Belgrade, Paris, Frankfurt, Sint-Niklaas, Qingdao, and Beijing. To date, nearly eighty books for children and adults featuring her illustrations have been published in Greece and abroad, accompanying texts by contemporary authors such as Christos Boulotis, Alki Zei, Fotini Fragouli, Panagiotis Kousathanas, Zoe Valasi, Lili Lamprelli, Iphigenia Mastrogianni, and Eleni Sarantiti. She has artistically interpreted the poetry of Sappho, Kassiani, and Lorca, as well as the literature of Papadiamantis and Aninos. In 2010, she illustrated a four-volume mythology series with narratives by our songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos. Nine of the books she has illustrated are collectible, handmade editions, and in seven of them, she has also authored the texts. She has received twenty-two Greek and international accolades in the fields of illustration and ex-libris. Among the most significant are the State Awards of 2003, 2007, and 2010, the awards from the Greek section of IBBY for 1995, 2005, and 2011, the illustrated book awards of 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2012 from the magazine "Diavazo," the Golden Pen and Plaquette from the Belgrade International Biennial in 2005, 2013, and 2009, the BIB Plaque from Bratislava in 2001, the EBGE award and commendation in 2007 and 2013, and her representation of Greece in the international competitions Hans Christian Andersen 2004, Astrid Lindgren 2008, and BNF (National Library of France) 2009.