The elusive colours of the end

Manolis Pratikakis was born in Myrtos, Ierapetra, in September 1943. He studied Medicine at the University of Athens. He is a psychiatrist and holds a PhD from the University of Athens. He made his literary debut around 1970 with publications in magazines. He has written 13 collections of poetry, critical essays and articles. His poems have been translated into many languages. He has contributed to anthologies and journals, both Greek and foreign, and has participated in numerous conferences. Poems from his collection *Lividó* have been set to music by the composer Yannis Markopoulos and are available on a CD entitled *Atheatos Sfygmós*; recently, the same composer wrote a symphonic work based on the poetry collections *Genealogy*, "The Lekythos" and "Left Quietly in the Grass", the world premiere of which was staged at the Megaron Concert Hall under the title "The Symphony of Healing". In 1999, he was nominated for the European Prize for Literature for his book "The Dormition and Resurrection of the Bodies of Dominic". In 2003, he was awarded the State Prize for Poetry for his collection "The Water", and in 2012 the Poetry Prize of the Petros Haris Foundation of the Academy of Athens, for his entire body of work.