Mairi P. Stayrou

Mary P. Stavrou was born in Athens. She made her literary debut at a very young age under her maiden name, Mary Rodiou. She graduated from the School of Philosophy at the University of Athens and worked as a high school teacher in the Greek provinces. In 1960, she married Patroklos Stavrou and moved to Cyprus, where she initially worked as a high school teacher. She was later seconded to Educational Television and served as a liaison between the Ministry of Education and the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (R.I.K.). She resigned in 1969. Subsequently, she focused on writing and journalism, using her husband's name: Mary P. Stavrou. In 1961, for approximately two years, she hosted a series of weekly radio broadcasts on the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation about famous women in Greek history. She collaborated with the reputable Nicosia magazines "Lyrical Cyprus" and "Spiritual Cyprus." In 1964, she received the short story award from the Hellenic Spiritual Group of Cyprus (E.P.O.K.) for her story "From That Night." In 1967, with a team of collaborators, she published the magazine "Cypriot Word." At the same time, she began collaborating with the pioneering magazine "Cypriot Chronicles," a partnership that continued until 1974, the year of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. She also collaborated with the magazines "Times of Cyprus" and "Cyprus Times," as well as with the Cypriot newspaper "Simerini," where she was responsible for the chronicle. For a considerable time, she also managed the literary page of the general interest magazine "The World Today." In 1966, as a representative of the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts, she, along with art critic Tony Spiteri, then Secretary General of the International Association of Art Critics, presented the work of Cypriot painters and sculptors. In 1970, her first novel, "The Fifth Seal," was published in Athens, for which she was awarded the first state prose prize of Cyprus. In 1977, she published her second novel, "Guilty." Her study on Mahatma Gandhi was translated into three foreign languages and published in India. Her short stories, critical reviews, current articles, and other literary works have been published in newspapers and magazines and broadcast on the radio. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Theatre Organization (TH.O.K.) for seven years. In 1990, she wrote the novel "Wonderful Others," and in 1991, the novel "Escape," which won a State Prize in Cyprus. She translated Viktor Frankl's book "Logotherapy and Existentialism." In 1995, Columbia Pacific University in America awarded her an M.A. (Master of Arts) for her study on Kazantzakis's work: "Freedom or/and Death" ("Captain Michalis"). Her extensive study "The Existential Kazantzakis" ("Long Journey to 'Captain Michalis'") was published by Dromon Editions in 2001, and in 2009, the book "Next to Eleni Kazantzakis" was released. She has been a member of the Society of Greek Writers since 1975.