Nikos Fokas Papers

COLLECTION OVERVIEW - ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΗΣΗ ΣΥΛΛΟΓΗΣ

Collection Number: GR ASCSA NEF 085
Name(s) of Creator(s): Nikos Fokas (1927-2021)
Title: Nikos Fokas Papers
Date [bulk]: 1950-2000
Date [inclusive]:
Language(s): Greek
Summary: The collection consists of manuscripts of his poems, essays and translations, correspondence, notes (τετράδια εργασίας), photos, and some audio material.
Quantity: 2 linear meters
Immediate Source of Acquisition: Gift of Nikos and Angela Fokas, 2013-2019
Information about Access: The collection is available for research after consultation with the ASCSA Archivist
Cite as: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Archives, Nikos Fokas Papers (Αμερικανική Σχολή Κλασικών Σπουδών στην Αθήνα, Τμήμα Αρχείων, Αρχείο Νίκου Φωκά)

For more information, please contact the Archives:
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
54 Souidias Street, Athens 106 76, Greece
phone: 213-000-2400 (ext. 425)
Contact via E-mail

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE - ΒΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΚΟ ΣΗΜΕΙΩΜΑ

Described as one of the most important figures in postwar Greek literature, poet Nikos Fokas and his wife Angela have donated the poet's personal papers to the Archives of the Gennadius Library. Born in Kefalonia in 1927, Nikos Fokas lived in London from 1960 to 1974 and worked in the Greek division of the BBC World Service. He has published several collections of poetry and has translated extensively the work of Thomas Hardy, Thomas de Quincy, Robert Frost and Philip Larkin. An Honorary Fellow at the University of Iowa, and a former Stanly J. Seeger Writer-in-Residence in the Hellenic Studies Program at Princeton University, the poet has also received the Grand Prize in Literature from the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Medal of Distinction in Letters from the Athens Academy of Arts and Sciences for lifetime achievement. Author and literary critic Thanasis Valtinos has said: "Fokas is a unique and singular presence in our postwar poetry. His poetic work - dense, solid, unpredictable - distinguishes itself from the plethora of poems by his peers through its depth of reflection, its poetic clarity, the precision of its design, and its stringent antilyrical tone."