Alexis Stamatis

Alexis Stamatis was born in 1960 in Athens. After spending a year in the Mathematics Department at the University of Athens, he studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and pursued postgraduate studies in architecture and film in London. In 1998, he read poetry at the Edinburgh Festival. His poetry has been published in the British literary magazine "Modern Poetry in Translation." His first novel, "The Seventh Elephant" (Kedros, 1998, 2nd ed. Kastaniotis, 2016), was published in the UK by Arcadia Books and in Bangladesh. His second novel, "Bar Flaubert" (Kedros, 2000, 2nd ed. Kastaniotis, 2012), was published in France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Serbia, and (in 2007) in the UK by the same publisher, and was adapted into a screenplay in collaboration with director Vassilis Douvlis as part of a program by the Greek Film Centre. This was followed by the novels "Like a Thief in the Night" (2002), "Theseus Street" (2003), "Life" (2005), "Mother Ash" (2005), "American Fugue" (2006), "Villa Combray" (2008), "Kill What You Love" (2009), "Sunday" (2011), "Can You Cry Underwater?" (2012), "Chameleons" (2013), "Bees" (2014), and "The Book of Rain" (2015). "American Fugue" won the International Literature Award from the American Federal Foundation for the Arts and was published in the USA. "Mother Ash" (2005) was published in the USA and Turkey. His first children's novel, "Alkis and the Labyrinth" (2009), was awarded the First Prize by the Circle of the Greek Children's Book. He has published poetry collections including "Corner of the World" (Sokolis, 1992), "Architecture of Interior Spaces" (Kastaniotis, 1993), "The Simple Method of Three" (Kastaniotis, 1995), "Dense Now" (Hellenic Letters, 1999), "As I Approach, the Future Recedes" (To Rodakio, 2002), and "We Are Never Alone" (Kastaniotis, 2004). For his collection "Architecture of Interior Spaces," he was awarded the Nikiforos Vrettakos Poetry Prize by the Municipality of Athens in 1994. This collection, along with "The Simple Method of Three" and "Dense Now," was translated into English and published by Dionysia Press ("Architecture of Interior Space & The Simple Method of Three," 2001, "Dense Now," 2002). He has written librettos for works by musician Thodoris Abatzis, presented at the Athens Concert Hall and the "Chora" Theater. His monologue "Last Martha" was performed in 2008 at the "Kefallinias Street Theater." Two of his monologues titled "Genesis" were staged in 2009 at the "Chora Theater." His play "Tear Gas" was presented in 2010 at the "Kefallinias Street Theater." In recent years, he has collaborated with magazines and newspapers on art and culture topics. He has represented Greece at international literary conferences and has taught Creative Writing at the Athens-Psychiko College and the Herakleidon Museum. He currently writes for the newspaper "To Vima."