Yiannis Kalpouzos

Born in 1960 in Melates, a village near Arta. Since 1983 he has lived and worked in Athens. His works include volumes of poetry, seventy song lyrics, short stories and novels. For his volume of verse Love now and forever he was nominated for the National Literary Award in the category of Poetry in 2008 and in 2009 he received the Readers' Choice Award of the National Book Centre for his novel Imaret. Under the shadow of the mosque clock. The novel became a bestseller in Greece with 70 thousand copies sold. It was already translated into Turkish and Italian. It was also published as an audiobook and as a special edition including songs mentioned in the book that had been sung before 1880. His latest novel is entitled Everything I love is yours. The research for the first novel took three years – the author spent the time in libraries of Athens and Arta, studying historical, religious and ethnographic materials as well as books on Byzantine times and ancient history of the region. Photo by Chris Pantazis