Vasilis Amanatidis

Vasilis Amanatidis is a poet, prose writer, translator, and performer. He was born in 1970 in Edessa and grew up in Thessaloniki. He studied archaeology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and pursued postgraduate studies in art history ("Word and Image in the Age of Modernism - The Greek Case of Odysseas Elytis"). He worked as an art curator at the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art and taught art history and literature at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece and other institutions. He first published poetry in 1991 in the magazine "Entefktirio," which also published his first poetry book "Hypnoterium - Nine Nocturnal Parables" in 1999. Since then, he has published seven more poetry books [recently: "you: the elements," Nefeli, 2017 (Uranis Foundation Poetry Award of the Academy of Athens, nominated for the State Poetry Award), "m_otherpoem: only words," Nefeli, 2014, 2nd edition: 2015, "7: poetry for video games," Nefeli, 2011 (nominated for the Poetry Award of the magazine "Diavazo")], as well as short story collections "The Dog of Charybdis" (Kastaniotis, 2008), "Don't Eat Me" (Kastaniotis, 2005), and their comprehensive - revised and enriched - reissue in the volume "Plankton: the stories" (Nefeli, 2019). Two of his plays have been performed in Thessaloniki, and since 2007, he has been presenting his texts and books to the public through performative readings and literary performances in Greece and abroad, utilizing handmade materials, modern technology, and the synergy of other arts ("Tempest: a video game," "m_otherpoem: only words," "you: the elements," "_m_otherlands_"). He is involved in teaching poetry as creative writing (through organizing courses and seminars in Greece and Cyprus), as well as curating visual art exhibitions and literary and performance events ("Post_borders / Post_borders" - Goethe Institute and LABattoir, 2018, "3rd Festival of Young Writers" - 13th Thessaloniki International Book Fair, 2016, "Exulat: poeta in terra" - 50th Dimitria Festival, 2015, "Aido/Here" - Action Field Kodra, 2013). He is also engaged in translating prose (Witold Gombrowicz, "Cosmos," Nefeli, 2012, works by Isaac Bashevis Singer, etc.) and poetry [E. E. Cummings, "[only with spring] 44 poems," Nefeli, 2010 (nominated for the Literary Translation Award of the National Book Centre of Greece), works by Bertolt Brecht, Russel Edson, Anne Carson, etc.]. His poetry and prose have been published in major Greek literary magazines, and he publishes essays and poetry criticism in newspapers, literary magazines, and websites. In 2018, he participated in the collective volume of essays "A Discussion on Poetry Now" (published by [frmk]). He is an editorial advisor for the magazine "Entefktirio" [where he maintains the "bonsai" column of "1x3x201 (words)" reviews], a member of the editorial team of the magazine "[frmk]" (https://frmk.gr), and the online platform "Greek Poetry Now" (www.greekpoetrynow.com), and the creator-curator of the - endless - digital project "l_ink" (https://fairead.net/link). Since 2014, he has been a member of the Society of Authors. He has participated in numerous international poetry festivals, and his works have been translated into fourteen languages and included in magazines and anthologies in Greece and abroad. A bilingual selection of his poems, "The Hare and the Countryside," was published in Russian (Stella Art Foundation, 2008), and a book with selected short stories, "(Ihr) Weinen," was published in German (Nefeli, 2014). [photo: Katerina Iliopoulou]