Giannis Yfantis

Giannis Yfantis was born in Raina, Agrinio, in 1949. He studied law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and attended courses in philosophy, archaeology, and astronomy. A poet and translator, he collaborated with Greek and international newspapers such as "To Vima," "Ta Nea," "Eleftherotypia," "Athinaiki," "Arampas," "El Shark el Awsat," "Il Sole 24 Ore," "Le Journal des Poetes," among others. He has also contributed to almost all Greek literary magazines and several foreign ones, including "Temenos," "Pacific Quarterly," "Foot Print," "Aegean Review," "Nostalgia Literatura," "Hora de Poesia," "Ibn Da," "Sapriphage," "Orpheus" of Sofia, "Lettre Internationale" of Sofia, "Beneen," "Ecriture," "Journal of Literature and Aesthetics," and more, as well as regional magazines "Porphyra" (Corfu) and "Akti" (Cyprus). He also worked for two years at the State Radio of Thessaloniki, responsible for the programs "Greek and World Poetry" and "In Depth, the Subject is One." From 1977 to 2009, his books were published: "Manthraspenta," poems, 1977, "Mystics of the East," 1980, 1989; new, more complete edition 2000 (translations of Sufi, Hindu, Tao, and Zen poets), "Ancient Edda," 1983 (translation of the ancient Icelandic Edda later included in his book "The Garden of Poetry"), "The Mirror of Proteus," poems, 1986, "Signs of Immortal Memory" (poetic philosophical essays on Oedipus and the Oracle of Delphi), 1987, "Poems Embroidered on the Devil's Skin," poems, 1988, "Temple of the World," poems, 1997, "The Garden of Poetry," 2001 (4,000 years of foreign poetry), "Archetypes," 2001 (compositions of photographs, paintings, and handwritten poetry), "The Ideogram of the Snake," 2003 (philosophical essays, interviews, legends and their interpretations, dreams and their interpretations, real events, messages on mobile), "Eros Anikate Machan," poems, 2004, "The Transformations of Nothingness," published by Ankyra, 2006; second edition, published by AX, 2009 (all poetry collections along with unpublished poems in one volume). His anthology "On the Shores of Homer" (3,000 years of Greek poetry) is forthcoming. His poems have been translated mainly into Italian, Bulgarian, English, French, Arabic, Finnish, as well as Russian, Spanish, Slavic Macedonian, Chinese, Serbian, Kurdish, Hebrew, and German. He presented his work at international festivals (Egypt, Finland, Cyprus, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Algeria, etc.), in high schools and lyceums in Greece, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in cultural centers and galleries in Athens, Thessaloniki, and the regions. In 1995, he was honored in Cairo with the International Cavafy Award. In 1997, as part of Thessaloniki's European Capital of Culture events, director Christos Aronis presented the documentary "Pyr Aizoion," based on his texts, featuring the poet and his daughter Ariadne. In the summer of 2002, the book "Alector the Erasmian," featuring love poems by Giannis Yfantis and erotic engravings by Giorgos Stathopoulos, was published by Vourkariani Editions of Kea. In November 2005, in Bormes les Mimosas on the French Riviera, the sculptor Marie-Jose Armando created the clay book "Masks of Nothingness/Masques du Neant," in 7 copies, in Greek and French. In March 2009, the record label Lyra released the 73-minute CD "Giannis Yfantis Reads Yfantis." Three years ago, Yiannis Yfantis, after living for 32 years in Thessaloniki, returned to his place of origin (he now resides in Raina, Aetolia, and Lefkada). For more biographical details about Yiannis Yfantis, see Alexis Ziras, "Yfantis Yiannis," in the "Dictionary of Modern Greek Literature," Athens, Patakis, 2007, pp. 2246-2247, and on the poet's personal website: www.yfantis.gr.