Landscapes from the origins and wanderings of YK

The poet, essayist and translator Lydia Stefanou (1927–2013) was born in Athens, her maiden name being Georgouli. She completed her secondary education at the University of Athens Experimental High School, the Koula Pratsika School of Rhythmic and Choreographic Arts, the French Institute of Athens (1943–1946), the Pierce Greek-American College (1946–1947) and the Law School of the University of Athens (law and political science, 1945–1949). Accompanying her diplomat husband, Alexandros Stefanou, she travelled with him to Jerusalem, Ankara, Nicosia, Sofia, Geneva, London and Canberra, Australia, between 1953 and 1979. She was the founder of the Merlin Gallery (1963) and a founding member of the magazines ‘Palmos’ (1944–1945), ‘Aigaio’ (1945) and ‘Stachys’ (1950–1951).

She made her literary debut in 1944 with publications in the magazines “Neaniki Foni” and “Palmos”. In 1958, her first collection of poetry, entitled “Poems”, was published. This was followed by the collections "Landscapes from the Origin and Wandering of Yk" (1965), "Six Episodes from the Cycle of Monsters" (1971), "The Loudspeakers" (1973), "Words and Things" (1983) and the essays "The Problem of Method in the Study of Poetry" (1972), "General and Specific Remarks on Poetry" (1993). He translated into Greek works by Guillaume Apollinaire, C. M. Bowra, Claude Mosse, Jacqueline de Romilly and Dylan Thomas. He contributed to the journals "Tomes", "Zygos", "Nea Poiesis", "Nea Ellinika", "Epohes", and others. In 1973, she was awarded the Second State Prize for Criticism and Essay for her study “The Problem of Method in the Study of Poetry”, and in 1994 the State Prize for Essay for “General and Specific Aspects of Poetry”.

Lydia Stefanou is situated within the context of post-war Greek poetry. In her first collection of poetry, she draws her themes from her experiences during the German occupation, whilst in the course of her work she turned towards an attempt to depict the human impasse in the face of the inhuman living conditions of the modern world. A key feature of her writing is the combination of the lyrical element with theoretical thought, which stems from her background in literary criticism and literary theory. In the early 1980s, she was among the founding members of the Poetry Symposium in Patras, where she presented the work of many young poets. She also spearheaded the founding of the Writers’ Society in 1981 and played a significant role in the establishment of World Poetry Day in 1997, proposing that 21 March, the day of the spring equinox, as the day to celebrate poetry. He died in Athens on the morning of 6 February 2013, following serious health problems, at the age of 86.