"On April 29, 1933, at two in the morning—on his seventieth birthday—the poet Constantine Cavafy died from complications of laryngeal cancer. The dates give his life an uncanny symmetry, fitting for a poet whose art was steeped in lament for the transience of life and in dramatizing the strange ups and downs of history. Constantine wrote regularly about death, confronting it directly and without sentimentality. His own approach to death after a two-year battle with an undefeated disease was an entirely different matter. For a solitary poet who 'lived for art,' as is the title of one of his poems, managing his own mortality was beyond artistry. Having spent a lifetime orchestrating the circulation of his poems—printing them on luxurious paper, distributing them to a select circle of readers, and postponing the final publication of a definitive volume—Constantine felt he needed more years to complete his poetic journey. Nevertheless, his death marked the beginning of his life as an internationally recognized poet. The official publication of his 154 'canonical' poems in 1935 signaled the start of his path to worldwide fame as 'Cavafy,' one of the most widely read poets of modernity."

An outstanding biography of a unique poet. Wall Street Journal

The most comprehensive portrait of the Alexandrian poet in fifty years. Guardian

A distinctive, revealing biography. Kirkus Reviews

One of the most anticipated books of the year.
Literary Hub

A biography of the quiet Alexandrian who left few traces of his life, but whose poems are still revered worldwide and continue to be retranslated. ANDRE ACIMAN, author

A delightful yet unconventional biography, scholarly yet passionate, worthy of its subject. MARK DOTY, author

Cavafy was among the first to speak about young men with great ambitions but little money, marginalized and consumed by desire. The first twenty years of his prodigal life were followed by the maturity of a genius, the most important Greek poet of the 20th century. EDMUND WHITE, author