Alki Zei (Greek: Άλκη Ζέη) (December 15, 1925 – February 27, 2020) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and children's writer.

Biography

Zei was born in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. She studied in the philosophy school of

Athens University The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, the Drama School of the Athens Odeion, and in the screenwriting department of the Moscow Cinema Institute. From 1954 to 1964 she lived in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

as a political refugee. In 1964 she and her family returned to Greece, but they all left again when the

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...

seized power in 1967. That time she stayed in Paris, returning only after the dictatorship fell. Alki Zei took up writing very young. During her early years at junior high school she started writing plays for

puppet theatre Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performa ...

. Her first novel, ''The Tiger in the Shop Window'' (a.k.a. ''Wildcat Under Glass''), (1963) was inspired by her childhood spent in

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...

and is semi-autobiographical. This was followed by a series of books for children, and in 1987 by her first novel for adults, ''Achilles Fiancee'' . Her books have been translated into numerous languages. Her teenage novel ''Constantina and her spiders'' (a.k.a. ''Tina's Web'') won the Greek IBBY prize for the best book for older children, and Alki Zei was nominated as a candidate for the 2004

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

for Writing and

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ( sv, Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–200 ...

for Literature. The

Mildred L. Batchelder Award The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award, is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English and published in the U.S. The M ...

was granted for the translation to English and publishing in the United States of ''Wildcat Under Glass'' (1970), ''Petros' War'' (1974), and ''The Sound of the Dragon's Feet'' (1980).

Works

* ''The Purple Umbrella'' 'L'Ombre Mauve'' in French translation* ''Grandpa the liar'' (''O Pseftis Pappous'') * ''Near the railway tracks (''Κοντά στις ράγες'') * ''The Tiger in the Shop Window'' (a.k.a. ''Wildcat Under Glass'') / ''Το Καπλάνι της Βιτρίνας'' (1963) * ''Petros' War'' / ''Ο μεγάλος περίπατος του Πέτρου'' (1971) * ''Achilles' Fiancée'' / ''Η αρραβωνιαστικιά του Αχιλλέα'' (1987) nglish translation by G. Holst-Warhaft 1991* ''Uncle Plato'' / ''Ο θείος Πλάτων'' (1975) * ''Hannibal's Shoes'' / ''Τα παπούτσια του Αννίβα'' (1979) * ''Constantina and her spiders'' (a.k.a. ''Tina's Web'') / ''Η Κωνσταντίνα και οι αράχνες της'' (2002)

Awards

Literary Prize
("Prix Litéraire des Jeunes Européens", 2010 France) for ''Granda the liar'' *Commandeur de l'

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

, 2015 France *Gold Cross, Order of Honour, 2015 Greece

References

External links

Alki Zei
at Bookboom: the e-place for juvenile Greek literature * (including 4 'from old catalog') {{DEFAULTSORT:Zei, Alki 1925 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Greek women writers National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Greek children's writers Greek women novelists Greek women children's writers Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Writers from Athens