Tasos Leivaditis

Athens, Greece

Tasos Leivaditis (Greek: Τάσος Λειβαδίτης; 20 April 1922 – 30 October 1988) was a Greek poet, short story writer and literary critic who belonged to the postwar generation that was deeply marked by the struggles and failures of the communist movement. His early and politically committed poetry travelled through the ‘fire and sword’ of history, transforming in the end into powerful and paradoxical prose-poems, and displaying an erotically charged form of ‘neo-romanticism’ mixed with ‘melancholic minimalism’ where “genuine humility offers obeisance to the magic of language.”

Leivaditis also wrote the screenplay for two films, together with longtime friend, playwright and novelist, Kostas Kotzias (1921-79). The first of these was for the now-classic film, Συνοικία το Όνειρο (‘Neighborhood of Dreams’, 1961, directed by Alekos Alexandrakis), which caused an uproar at the time for its realistic portrayal of the slums of Athens. The other screenplay was for the film, Θρίαμβος (‘Triumph’, 1962, directed by Alekos Alexandrakis and Aristeidis Karydis-Fuchs).

Finally, Leivaditis wrote lyrics to many popular songs, sometimes for film, and set to music by the likes of Mikis Theodorakis, Manos Loizos, and Mimis Plessas. Leivaditis’ collaboration with Theodorakis included a ten-day concert tour of regional areas of Greece in October 1961, where Leivaditis would recite his poems in between Theodorakis’ performances.