When: Thursday September 15, 18:00

Where: John S. Bailey Library, Upper Level, Deree – The American College of Greece

Organized by: 25-Year Associates

Haris Vlavianos was born in Rome in 1957. He studied Economics and Philosophy at the University of Bristol (B.Sc) and Politics, History and International Relations (M.Phil, D.Phil) at the University of Oxford (Trinity College). His doctoral thesis entitled, Greece 1941-1949: From Resistance to Civil War, was published by Macmillan (1992) and was awarded the “Fafalios Foundation” Prize.

He has published twelve collections of poetry, including Vacation in Reality (2009), which won the prestigious “Diavazo” Poetry Prize and was short-listed for National Poetry Prize, and Sonnets of Despair (2011), which was also short-listed for the National Poetry Prize. He has also published a collection of thoughts and aphorisms on poetry and poetics entitled, The Other Place (1994), a book of short literary fragments entitled, The Double Dream of Language (2010) [in collaboration with Christos Chrissopoulos] and a new book of essays, entitled Does Poetry Matter? Thoughts on a Useless Art (2009). Moreover, he has published a History of Western Philosophy in 100 Haiku.

He has translated in book form the works of well-known writers such as: Walt Whitman (Selected Poems, 1986), Ezra Pound (Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, 1987; Drafts and Fragments of Cantos CX-CXX, 1991), Michael Longley (Selected Poems, 1992, Homer’s Octopus and Other Poems, 2009), Wallace Stevens (Adagia, 1993, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird and Other Poems, 2009), John Ashbery (Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1995), Carlo Goldoni (The Venetian Twins, 1996 — a play staged by the Karolos Koun Art Theatre in 1996-97), William Blake (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1997—short listed for the State Translation Prize), Zbigniew Herbert (The Soul of Mr. Cogito  and other Poems, 2001), Fernando Pessoa (Herostrato: The Quest for Immortality, 2002, Marginalia, 2005), E. E. Cummings (33 x 3 x 33: Poems, Essays, Fragments, 2004—short listed for the State Translation Prize, Love Poems, 2014), T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets (2012), Anne Carson, Short Talk, 2104

He is the editor of the influential literary journal “Poetics” and Poetry Editor at “Patakis Publications”.

His collection of poems Adieu (1996) was translated into English by David Connolly and published in the U.K. by Birmingham University Press (1998).  A Selected Poemsvolume of his translated into German by Dadi Sideri Speck, into Dutch by Hero Hokwerda and into Italian by Nicola Crocetti, was published by “Romiosini Press” (2001), “Rotterdam Poetry International” (2000) and “Crocetti” (forthcoming), respectively. (A new volume in Dutch came out in March 2007, also translated by Hero Hokwerda). A selection of his poetry was translated into Catalan by Joaquim Jesti and published in Barcelona by the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes. A new Selected Poems volume of his, translated into German by Torsten Israel, was published in February 2007 by “Hanser Verlag” in Munich, with an introduction by the well-known German poet, Joachim Sartorius. In addition, “Dedalus” (Ireland) published a similar volume, translated into English by Mina Karavanta, with an introduction by the award-winning poet Michael Longley. Vacation in Reality was translated into Swedish by Ingemar Rhedin (the translator of the Nobel Prize winner Odysseus Elytis) and published by “Axion Publications” in Stockholm. In August 2011, “Edition Circe” published a Selected Poems volume, translated into French by Michel Volkovitch.Sonnets of Despair is being translated into English by Evan Jones. His poetry has also been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian, Israeli, Arabic, Bulgarian, Romanian, Croatian and Albanian and has appeared in numerous European and American journals and anthologies.

His latest novel, Blood into Water: A Novel in Forty-Five Acts, was published in 2014 to great critical acclaim and was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement. It has been already translated into English (by Jacob Moe) and German (by Torsten Israel). His History of Western Philosophy in 100 Haiku was recently published by “Dedalus Press”, translated into English by Peter Mackridge, and reviewed in the October issue of Times Literary Supplement.

He has just published a book on Hitler and the circumstances surrounding the writing of Mein Kampf, entitled, Hitler’s Secret Diary: Landsberg Prison, November 1923–December 1924. The book, a “fictional historical diary”, has already been very positively reviewed  in all major newspapers and literary journals and is now in its third printing. Gert Blumlein, the renowned translator of Cavafy and Tsirkas, has begun translating into German.

He is Professor of History and Politics at the American College of Greece. He has published numerous articles relating to issues of Modern Greek History and Culture [the “Metaxas Dictatorship”, the “Greek Resistance”, the “Fall of the Junta”, “Modern and Postmodern Currents in Greek Culture”].

For his contribution in promoting Italian literature and culture in Greece, the President of the Italian Republic bestowed upon him in February 2005 the title of “Cavaliere”, while the Dante Society of Italy awarded him the “Dante Prize” for his publications on the Divine Comedy.