Poet Nikos Fokas donates his papers to the Gennadius Library Archives
Nikos Fokas, 2001 (photo by Kostas Mitropoulos)
Described as one of the most important figures in postwar Greek literature, poet Nikos Fokas and his wife Angela have recently 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." His papers include correspondence, manuscripts of his poems, essays and translations, notes (τετράδια εργασίας), photos, and some audio material. Fokas's poetry has been translated into English by Kimon Friar and Don Schofield (http://www.mediterranean.nu/?p=1677); the latter pubished in 2010 an anthology of Fokas's poetry in Greek and English titled Nikos Fokas The Known Selected Poems (1981-2000) [Ypsilon Editions]. See also an interesting essay in the Guardian of July 15, 2011, where classical historian and novelist Tom Holland recommends three books for summer reading, were one to go to Greece for vacation: The Battle of Marathon by ASCSA Mananging Committee member Peter Krentz, The Lost Books of Odyssey by Zachary Mason, and The Known by Nikos Fokas (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jul/15/best-summer-reads-2011-travel) Below follow the first verses of "Sail in the Open" by Nikos Fokas (translated by Don Schofield) Sail in the Open As one who has visions wherever he looks, I see clouds as cosmic deities, right now Spineless demons that take Their color from the forming darkness, Pythons with smudged out eyes and lips, Dragons with undeclared intentions. The long rolling curves of waves Are to me soft arms Of who knows what submerged bellies, Stretching out to the land And returning having abducted Fresh victims in their coils: World of spirals in which The straight line has not yet been invented, Or only now comes forth with the first sails; World of supernatural creatures Destined for life on a huge scale Like this one offered by ocean