Nikos Dimou ( el, Νίκος Δήμου), born in 1935 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 ...

, is a Greek writer and columnist. He started out as a copywriter and went on to become one of the best-known Greek intellectuals.

Biography

He graduated from

Athens College Athens College ( el, Κολλέγιο(ν) Αθηνών; formally Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (HAEF)) is a co-educational private preparatory school in Psychiko, Greece, a suburb of Athens, part of the Hellenic-American Educational ...

and studied French literature in Athens. From 1954 to 1960, he studied philosophy at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He published his first book in 1953. In 1962, he started working in advertising as a copywriter. In 1965, he founded his own company. Other than trading commercials, the company created goodwill ads and public initiatives (e.g. ''I don't forget'' for

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

). In 1983, he withdrew from all business ventures in order to work full-time as a writer. In 1979, Dimou started writing columns for magazines, including '' Epikaira'' (''Current Issues''), '' 4 Trochoi'' (''4 Wheels''), '' Tetarto'' (''Quarter'') and '' Photographos'' (''Photographer'') and newspapers including ''

To Vima ''To Vima'' ( el, Το Βήμα, lit=The Tribune) is a Greek weekly newspaper first published in 1922 by Dimitris Lambrakis, the father of Christos Lambrakis, as ''Elefthero Vima'' (Free Tribune). It was owned by Lambrakis Press Group (DOL), a ...

'', ''

Kathimerini ''Kathimerini'' (Greek: Η Καθημερινή, pronounced kaθimeriˈni meaning ''The Daily'') is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Athens. Its first edition was printed on September 15, 1919. and it is considered ...

'', and the Sunday editions of ''

Eleftherotypia ''Eleftherotypia'' ( el, Ελευθεροτυπία, lit=freedom of the press) was a daily national newspaper published in Athens, Greece. Published since 21 July 1975, it was the first newspaper to appear after the fall of the Regime of the C ...

'' and '' Ethnos''. Dimou hosted his first talk show on Greek television in 1979, ''Μία Ταινία - Μία Συζήτηση'' (''A Movie - A Discussion''), and returned in 1987 with a show called ''Διάλογοι'' (''Dialogues''). He also ran ''Περιπέτειες Ιδεών'' (''Adventures of Ideas'') in 1991, and ''Μεγάλες Παρεξηγήσεις'' (''Big Misunderstandings'') in 1999. As for

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, he was part of the team that founded Athens 98.4 FM. Later, he had a show on the Third Programme of the ERA state radio. He has won two journalist awards ( Abdi İpekçi Award and Botsis Award). In 1997, he became an honorary citizen of

Ermoupoli Ermoupoli ( el, Ερμούπολη), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( el, < "Town of

Hermes

"), is a to ...

, his mother's hometown. Dimou was awarded the

Dimitris Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Μητρόπουλος; The dates 18 February 1896 and 1 March 1896 both appear in the literature. Many of Mitropoulos's early interviews and program notes gave 18 February. In his later interviews, howe ...

award in 2000. Dimou has published over 60 books, mostly light non-fiction, including ''On the Unhappiness of being Greek'' (''Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Έλληνας''), ''The New Greeks'' (''Οι Νέοι Έλληνες''), ''The Lost Social Class'' (''Η Χαμένη Τάξη''), ''Apology of an Anti-Hellene'' (''Απολογία ενός Ανθέλληνα''). He has done some hobby

photographic Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed i ...

work, published two photo albums and has had three photo exhibitions. For seven years he was a columnist in the Greek free press magazine LIFO and lately published in the site "Protagon.gr". His book "On the Unhappiness of being Greek" has been reprinted 40 times and has been translated into at least 10 languages. Poems of his have been translated in Italian (Book of Cats as "La Gatta di Corfu"), Portuguese and Spanish. 2014 he also published a new book in Germany "The Germans are to blame for everything". ("Die Deutschen sind an allem Schuld"). In politics, he failed to become elected in the European Parliament election in 2009 for the Greek party

Drasi Drassi (, "Action") was a liberal political party in Greece. The party was founded in 2009 by Stefanos Manos and was led by former New Democracy member Theodoros Skylakakis. The party had no representation in the Hellenic Parliament or European ...

. In March 2014 he became a member of the new Greek party " The River" ("Το Ποτάμι" ''To Potámi''). He resigned one month later because of a difference of opinions on state-church relations.

Books

* ''Par' ola Afta'' (''Παρ' όλα αυτά'', ''Nevertheless''), * ''Mikra Vimata'' (''Μικρά Βήματα'', ''Short Steps''), * ''Imerologio tou Kafsona'' (''Ημερολόγιο του καύσωνα'', ''Diary of the Heat Wave'') * ''Tolmires Istories'' (''Τολμηρές Ιστορίες'', ''Bold Stories''). Popular philosophy: * ''To Apolyto kai to Tavli'' (''Το απόλυτο και το τάβλι'', ''Backgammon and the Absolute'') * ''Triptyque: Communication, Love, Freedom'' (''Τρίπτυχο: επικοινωνία, αγάπη, ελευθερία'', ''Triptycho: Epikoinonia, Agapi, Eleftheria'').

Poetic Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

books: * ''To Vivlio ton Gaton'' (''Το βιβλίο των γάτων'', ''The Book of Cats''), * ''Poiimata 1950-1990'' (''Ποιήματα 1950-1990'', ''Poems 1950-1990'') * ''Listes'' (''Λίστες'', ''Lists''). His works also include light

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s and

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

s: * ''I Dystihia tou na Eisai Ellinas'' (''Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Έλληνας'', ''The Unhappiness of being Greek'') * ''Apologia enos Anthellina'' (''Απολογία ενός Ανθέλληνα'' = ''Apology of an Anti-Greek'') * ''Prosengiseis'' (''Προσεγγίσεις'', ''Approaches'') * ''Dokimia I:

Odysseas Elytis Odysseas Elytis ( el, Οδυσσέας Ελύτης , pen name of Odysseas Alepoudellis, el, Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as th ...

(''Δοκίμια Ι: Οδυσσέας Ελύτης'' = ''Essays I: Odysseus Elytis'') * ''Dokimia II: Ta Prosopa tis Poiesis'' (''Δοκίμια ΙΙ: Τα πρόσωπα της Ποίησης'', ''Essays II: The Faces of Poetry'') * ''I Teleia Diadromi'' (''Η τέλεια διαδρομή'', ''The Perfect Drive / Route'') * ''Psifiaki Zoi'' (''Ψηφιακή Ζωή'', ''Digital Life'')

Autobiographies An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

: * ''Apo tin Michail Voda stin Syrou'' (''Από την Μιχαήλ Βόδα στην Σύρου'', ''From Michail Voda

treet Treet (Armour Star Treet) is a canned meat product similar to Spam first introduced in 1939 by Armour and Company in the United States. Sold as "spiced luncheon loaf", it is made with chicken and pork and has a more finely ground texture than S ...

Syros Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census). The largest towns are Ermoupoli, A ...

') * ''Apo tin Odo Rinou stin Hess Strasse'' (''Από την οδό Ρήνου στην Ες Στράσε'', ''From

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

Street to

Hess Hess or Heß may refer to: * Hess (surname), also ''Heß'' in German, people with the surname Hess * Hess, Oklahoma, a community in the United States * Hess Educational Organization, the largest private provider of English instruction in the Repub ...

Strasse'') * ''Odos Galinis'' (''Οδός Γαλήνης'', ''Calm Street'') * ''Oi dromoi mou'' (''Οι δρόμοι μου'', ''My streets'') Nikos Dimou translated poems from

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and also translated ''The Voices of Marrakesh'' by

Elias Canetti Elias Canetti (; bg, Елиас Канети; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her t ...

Biography

Books

References

External links