Stayroula Katsou - Kantani

Stavrouka Katsou-Kantani was born in Kalamata and is the third of six children in her family. She began crafting her first poems in the final grades of elementary school, while in middle and high school, poetry collections by Greek and foreign poets, purchased with her pocket money, were nestled beneath her schoolbooks. She completed high school in Kalamata and studied at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Athens. Today, she works as a theologian at the Gymnasium of Agios Konstantinos in Agrinio. Despite her family obligations—she is married with four children—her love for writing never abandoned her. Her poems and prose have been published in the magazine "Syndesmos." Her poem titled "The Passion of Verses" received the First Commendation in the Second Panhellenic Poetry Competition 2004 of the Philological and Literary Club "Konstantinos Chatzopoulos." In 2005, her book "Save Our City" was honored by the Women's Literary Society with the Children's-Teen Novel Award on the Theme of Culture, sponsored by UNESCO Maroussi. In 2006, her children's poetry collection "On the Moon's Lapel" was awarded the Poetry for Children Award by the W.L.S. In 2007, "The Star of Love" received a Commendation from the W.L.S. in the category "Fairy Tale for Preschool and Early School Age Children." In April 2008, she was awarded by the Circle of the Greek Children's Book for her active interest and effective activities in promoting youth literature.