George Leonardos ( el, Γιώργος Λεονάρδος; born 1937) is a Greek author of historical novels.

Early life

Son of Anastase and Maria, Leonardos was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

on 20 February 1937. His father died when he was two years old and he lived with his mother in Alexandria until 1954. He was an avid reader of fiction and history, and as a high school student in Alexandria had his short stories published in Tachydromos and

Anatoli Anatoli ( el, Ανατολή) is a town and a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southe ...

, the Greek daily newspapers of the city. In 1954 he moved to Greece to study physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Career

After his graduation, he studied journalism and began to work as a journalist. He worked as a reporter for Athens newspapers

Apogevmatini ''Apogevmatini'' ( el, Απογευματινή, italic=yes) was a Greek newspaper published nationally in Athens. The newspaper was founded by Nasos and Sakis Botsis in 1952. It had a semi-liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics ...

, Eleftherotypia, Mesimvrini,

Eleftheros Typos ''Eleftheros Typos'' ( el, Ελεύθερος Τύπος, in English, "Free Press") is a daily newspaper published in Athens. It was founded in 1916 by Andreas Kavafakis with a liberal Venizelist political position. Kavafakis was murdered in ...

Ethnos Ethnos (from el, ἔθνος, link=no, lit=nation) may refer to: *Ethnic group * ''Ethnos'' (newspaper), Greek weekly *''Ethnos'', fantasy strategy board game by CMON Limited CMON Limited, formerly known as CoolMiniOrNot is a publicly listed mini ...

and as a columnist in the financial paper Kerdos. He was the first correspondent of the Athens News Agency in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

in 1964, and later in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1976, where he was also appointed director of the local Greek newspaper Ethnicos Kirikas. He has also worked as a newscaster in Greek Radio and Television, and has reported on the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and the Persian Gulf war. Leonardos is a member of the Athens Association of Daily Press Editors and the National Society of Greek Writers. His first novel, ''Grandma’s Red Sofa'', was published in 1992. He was twice awarded the prize for best historical novel by the Greek Society of Christian Studies for his novels ''Mara, the Christian Sultana'' and ''Sleeping Beauty of Mystra''. He was awarded a

Botsis Botsis ( el, Μπότσης) is a Greek surname. It can refer to: * Botsis family of publishers, owners of the Greek newspaper ''Apogevmatini'' * Ivan Botsis (died 1714), Greek-born Russian admiral See also

* Votsis {{surname, Botsis Greek-la ...

Foundation prize for his services to journalism and literature. In 2008 he was awarded with the Greek State Prize for his historical trilogy

The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium ''Palaiologan Dynasty'' ( el, Παλαιολόγεια Δυναστεία) is the collective name given to a trilogy of historical novels on the Palaiologan dynasty, the last ruling house of the Byzantine Empire, written by Greek author George Leon ...

and specially for the third historical novel of the mentioned trilogy "The Last Palaeologue

In 1980 he published the ''English-Greek Dictionary of Scientific and Military Terms'', and in 2000 he published ''The Structure of the Novel''. His latest historical novel is ''

Sophia Paleologue Zoe Palaiologina ( grc-x-byzant, Ζωή Παλαιολογίνα), whose name was later changed to Sophia Palaiologina (russian: София Фоминична Палеолог; ca. 1449 – 7 April 1503), was a Byzantine princess, member of ...

Palaelogina – From Byzantium to Russia''.

Works

Novels

* ''Grandmam's red sofa'', 1992 * ''The house over the catacombs'', 1993 * ''Eva'', 1994 * ''The magnet poles'', 1995 * ''Earth's lovers'', 1996 * ''A song from the soul'', 1997

Historical novels

* ''Barbarossa the Pirate'', 1998 * ''Mara, the Christian Sultana'', 1999 * ''Maria Magdalene'', 2001 * ''Sleeping Beauty of Mystra'', 2002 * ''Michael VIII Palaeologue'', 2004 * ''The Palaeologues'', 2006 * ''The last Palaeologue'', 2007. * ''Sophia Paleologue – From Byzantium to Russia'', 2008 * ''Magellan'',2009 * ''Thule'' 2010 * ''The Alexandria Rhapsody'' 2011 * ''The Last Sip of Wine'' 2013 * ''Islands Forgotten by the Time - Don Teodoro Griego'', 2014 * ''Justinian ii;-The slit-nosed'', 2016 * ''The Sarantapichena;- The story of Irene the Athenian'', 2016

References

National Book Center of Greece

TO VIMATA NEAAward of Botsis Foundation
*Who's Who (1979) p. 363 *Who's Who Metron (1995) p. 452 *European Who's Who (2002–2003) p. 1047

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardos, George Living people Egyptian emigrants to Greece Greek historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages 1937 births Writers from Alexandria Maritime writers Egyptian people of Greek descent