Kostis Moskof

Kostis Moskof was born on November 15, 1939, in Thessaloniki, to Heraklis Moskof, a tobacco merchant from Pontus, and Amina Arrigoni from Italy. His studies at the American colleges of Athens and Thessaloniki, the Law School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Sorbonne were accompanied by his involvement in the left-wing intellectual scene. He served as the leading municipal councilor for three terms and, for a period (spring of 1981), as the mayor of Thessaloniki. From 1989, he served as the cultural advisor at the Greek embassy in Egypt. Through his efforts, the house of the poet C. P. Cavafy in Alexandria was turned into a museum, where the annual literary conference on the Alexandrian poet's work was held for seven years. Furthermore, the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in the Middle East, which he headed, organized a series of publications (translations of Greek literary works into Arabic and Arabic poetry into Greek) and events aimed at strengthening the ties between Greeks and what he fondly referred to as "our East." Although a Marxist, he sought the Orthodox discourse, writing about history, geography, political ideology, and ultimately literature. As a municipal councilor, candidate for the Greek Communist Party, mayor, advisor to the Ministry of Culture, director of the Center for Marxist Studies, journalist, cultural attaché at the embassy in Egypt, and representative of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in the Middle East, Kostis Moskof left a significant mark on his era. A historian, poet, and essayist, he published numerous works in magazines and daily newspapers and authored a plethora of books, including "National and Social Consciousness in Greece" (1972), "Social Consciousness in the Poetry of Thessaloniki" (1978), "Introduction to the Labor Movement in Greece" (1978), "Action and Silence - The Limits of Love and History. Essays" (1983), and "On Love and Revolution - Poems" (1989). In 1994, he released a selection and translation of works by Arab poets, published by Kastaniotis Editions.