Special Information for the Artist
Nanos Valaoritis was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1921.
He studied literature and law at the universities of Athens, London, Sorbonne. Presented articles and translated first in London the Greek poets of 1930 -Seferis, Elytis, Empeirikos, Engonopoulos, Gatsos. In England he lived from 1944 to 1953 and met Elliott.
Between 1954-60, he stayed in Paris and met André Breton and the surrealists. In 1960 he returned to Greece and directed the magazine "Pali" (1963-1966). In 1969 recorded Greek poetry in the French magazine "Lettres Nouvelles". From 1968 to 1993 he taught comparative literature and creative writing at the State University of San Francisco. There, the poetic texts adopted by the house City Lights of Lawrence Ferlingketti. Organized the presentation of the Greek surrealists at the Pompidou Centre in 1990-91. Ran from 1989 to 1995 with poet Andrea Pagoulatos magazine "Doom", which was reissued in 2004 and entitled "New Doom".
In 1959 he was awarded the Second National Poetry Prize, which he refused. He got the National Prize for Poetry (1982) and the National Prize Chronicle - Witness (1998). And also received an award N.R.A. [National Poetry Association (American Society for Poetry)] in 1996-prize had been given previously in Ferlingketti, Ginsberg and others. He has received the Award Ourani of Academy of Athens for his poetic work (2006). The President awarded him the Gold Cross of Merit (2006). In 2009 he was awarded the Grand National Prize for Literature for the whole project. Books have been published abroad in English and French translations. He is a member of the Society of Authors. In Greece, he returned permanently in 2004.
Works:
Poetry
- "The punishment of the Magician", London 1947
- "Home Gallery", Athens 1958
- "Outbreaks of microbes", San Francisco 1977
- "Untitled poem Aigianni Light", Icarus 1978
- "The hero of the random", Tramway, Thessaloniki 1979
- "The Confession feather", Icarus 1982
- "After all, writing", Nefeli 1984
- "The color fountain pen", Dodona 1986
- "Poems I" Ypsilon 1987, "Poems II" Upsilon 1987
- "Anideogrammata" Kastaniotis 1996
- "Sun executioner a green thought" Kastaniotis 1996
- "Allegorical Cassandra" Kastaniotis 1998
- "The Descent of M" Upsilon 2002
- "An alphabet for the deaf", Ankara 2003
- "The Great Homeless" Upsilon 2004
- "The xananoigmeno Pandora's box", Ankara 2006
Prose
- "The traitor of Writing", Icarus 1980
- "From the bones of something out", Nefeli 1982, second edition 1999
- "Some women" Foundation 1982
- "The Treasure of Xerxes", House of 1984, Ankara 2008
- "Murder" Foundation 1984
- "My life after death guaranteed" Nefeli 1995
- "Delude" Nefeli 1996
- "God's dog" Kastaniotis 1998, second edition 2004
- "Broken arms of Venus de Milo", Agra 2002
- "You know Elpiniki?" Electra 2005
Essays
- "Andreas Embiricos", Upsilon 1989
- "Towards a theory of writing" Exandas 1990
- "Modernism, leadership again", Kastaniotis 1997
- "Mail Seferis - N. Valaoriti 1945-1958" Upsilon 2004
- "Towards a theory of writing, B", Electra 2006
