Anaktoria

Stratis Paschalis was born in 1958 in Athens and hails from Lesbos. He belongs to the generation of poets who began to emerge in the late 1970s. His first book, *Anaktoria*, was published in 1977, offering pure poetry amidst a period of intense prose and politicisation. Since then, he has published eight further collections of poetry, among which the most mature are: "Excavation" (1984), "Cherry Trees in the Dark" (1991), "Flowers of Water" (1994), the major poetic work "Michael" (1996), "Comedy" (1998), "Gazing at Forests" (2002) and his final collection "Season of Paradise" (2008, winner of the 2009 "Diavazo" magazine poetry prize). In 2002, his most comprehensive collection to date was published: "Verses of Another: Poems 1977–2002". His style is characterised by musicality, intense metaphysical concern, mystical submission, yet also by directness and a preoccupation with the authentic and the concrete. He has translated many foreign writers and poets, mainly French, whilst also engaging systematically in theatrical translation (Shakespeare, Racine, Corneille, Rostand, etc.). He has compiled anthologies of Karagatsis and Papadiamantis, and also edited the volume in the series ‘A City in Literature’ published by Metaixmio, dedicated to his hometown of Mytilene. In 2006, his only novel, “The Man on the Bus”, was published.
He has been awarded the Maria Ralli Debut Poet Prize (1977) for the collection “Anaktoria”, the Ourani Prize of the Academy of Athens (1994) for the collection “Flowers of Water”, twice with the Diavazo poetry prize, and the State Translation Prize (1998).