Kostas Mourselas

Kostas Mourselas (1932-2017) was born in Piraeus, Greece, where he completed high school. In 1951, as a first-year law student, he was arrested as a former member of EPON and tried by a special military court of the time (Belogiannis case). For years, he studied the violin, but he abandoned it when he became captivated by theater. He completed his law studies, but just before obtaining his lawyer's license, he left the legal profession. In 1959, he was appointed as an employee at the General Accounting Office of the State, where he worked until 1969 when he was dismissed by the Junta. From then on, he devoted himself entirely and professionally to writing. His works were performed by troupes of the Free Theater, the National Theater, the Art Theater, the State Theater of Northern Greece, Municipal Theaters, and by troupes abroad (France, Germany, Cyprus). Some of his well-known plays include: "Aquarium," "Knife to the Bone," "The Friends," "Alexander's Ear," "The Lady Does Not Mourn," "Dangerous Cargo," "Oh! What a World, Dad!," "The Double-Barreled Gun," "Incomplete Intercourse," among others. He became widely known to the public through television presentations of his works ("Classified Ads," "Quiet, the Homeland is Sleeping," "The Clock") and the famous TV series "He and... He," starring V. Diamantopoulos and G. Michalakopoulos (130 theatrical monologues). In 1990, he returned to prose, publishing the novel "Red Dyed Hair" (Kedros, final edition: Ellinika Grammata, 2006, reissued by Patakis, 2014), which sold over two hundred thousand copies, was translated into English, French, German, Turkish, and Hebrew, and was adapted for television. This was followed by short stories, novellas, and the novel "The Game of Four" (1998), co-authored with P. Tatsopoulos, G. Skourtis, and A. Sourounis. In 1999, he published the novel "Closed Due to Melancholy" (Kedros, 2nd ed. Ellinika Grammata, 2010), which sold over forty thousand copies and was translated into Turkish. His last books were the short story collection "Desire Burns the Insides" (Kedros, 2004) and the novel "At the Edge of the Night" (Patakis, 2011). He also wrote aesthetic essays and many columns published in the newspaper "Ta Nea," in the column "Conversing." He passed away in Athens on July 15, 2017, at the age of 85.