Read a lot. Work hard. Approach all people and all arts. He learned music by playing the mandolin, which he could carry with him even in places of exile, and piano, which he had for his close friends.

In more than sixty years of his work in writing, primarily poetry, from his first publication in the magazine "Diaplasis ton paidon" in 1924 to his last in 1989, before he fell ill, he accomplished 533 editions of books in Greek and 266 in foreign languages and foreign countries, many of which were bilingual and some trilingual.

He is the most translated Greek poet. But who was Yiannis Ritsos, who gave so much to art and who was so loved or even hated without hesitation, yet honored and glorified, honoring and glorifying his homeland and humanity in general?

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]