Nikos Fokas
Encyclopedia
Life
Fokas was born in Cephalonia in 1927 and educated in Athens. In the 1960s he lived in London and worked for the BBC World ServiceBBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
. On his return to Greece he worked as a free-lance journalist for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation until his retirement in 1982. He lives in Athens with his wife.
Poetry
Fokas has published numerous collections of poetry. The publication in 2002 of his Collected Poems: 1954-2000 brought his works to the attention of a wider audience. In 2005, he received the Grand Prize in Literature from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Medal of Distinction in Letters from the Athens Academy of Arts and SciencesAcademy of Athens (modern)
The Academy of Athens is Greece's national academy, and the highest research establishment in the country. It was established in 1926, and operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education...
.
Fokas’s works have been the subject of translation. In 2010, a selection of his poems between 1981 and 2000 was published by Ypsilon Books (Athens), translated and prefaced by Don Schofield, under the title The Known (τά γνωστά).
The literary critic Alexis Ziras has said:
Fokas’ work, from his early collections to his latest pieces, is pervaded by an endeavour to crystallise marginal emotions – an endeavour which we might say traces a parallel path to that of contemporary painting.
Translations
Fokas’s translations into Greek include:- Prosper MériméeProsper MériméeProsper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.-Life:...
’s CarmenCarmen (novella)"Carmen" is a novella by Prosper Mérimée, written and first published in 1845. It has been adapted into a number of dramatic works, including the famous opera by Georges Bizet.-Sources:...
(1983) - Janusz Głowacki’s General Strike (1984)
- Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
’s Les paradis artificielsLes paradis artificielsLes paradis artificiels is a book by French poet Charles Baudelaire, first published in 1860, about the state of being under the influence of opium and hashish. Baudelaire describes the effects of the drugs and discusses the way in which they could theoretically aid mankind in reaching an "ideal"...
(1986) - Thomas De QuinceyThomas de QuinceyThomas Penson de Quincey was an English esssayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:...
’s Confessions of an English Opium-EaterConfessions of an English Opium-EaterConfessions of an English Opium-Eater is an autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum addiction and its effect on his life...
(1987) - Amalia FlemingAmalia FlemingAmalia Koutsouri-Vourekas, Lady Fleming was a Greek doctor, activist and politician.Fleming was born in Constantinople in 1909. She moved to Greece and, during the Axis occupation, took part in the National Resistance, for which she was jailed by the Italians.In 1946, she received a scholarship...
’s A Piece of Truth (1995) - Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, Twenty-five poems (1997)