Spyros Plaskovitis

Spyros Plaskovitis (real name: Plaskasovitis) was born in Corfu in 1917, but from 1931 he lived in Athens. He studied at the Law School of the University of Athens and worked at the Ministry of Transport and, from 1951, at the Council of State, from which he was dismissed during the dictatorship as he was a leading figure in the "Democratic Defense" organization and was arrested and imprisoned for four years. He served as a Member of Parliament (from 1977 onwards), a Member of the European Parliament for PASOK (1981-1989), and Vice President of the European Parliament (1984-1986). He was one of the founders of the Society of Authors and served as the chairman of the board of the National Book Center. He passed away in Athens in October 2000. A short story writer and novelist, considered one of the best of the post-war period, Spyros Plaskovitis first published under the pseudonym "Lefkatas" in the magazine "The Children's Formation" in 1929. His first book, "The Naked Tree," was published in 1952. He published a total of six short story collections, which include two novellas, one novella, four novels, and two volumes of essays. He was awarded the Second State Prize for Short Story for the collection "The Storm and the Lantern" (1956), the Prize of the Twelve for "The Dam" (1961), and the First State Prize for Novel for "The City" (1980). His short stories have been translated into most European languages and published in international magazines and anthologies. His novel "The Dam" (1960) was published in French, Ukrainian, and Romanian, while the novel "The Lady of the Showcase" (1990) was published in French, German, and English. A selection of his short stories was also released in Italian translation, titled "The Horse and the Airplane and Seven Other Stories."