Nikos Savvakis

Nikos Savvakis was born in Phinikouda, a small fishing village in South-Western Peloponnese, Greece. From a very early age, he found himself in the family café and, given the Greek obsession with politics, it was natural for him to study it later as a student in England. However, when his attempt to practice it even at elementary level came to grief—he managed to get seven (out of a hundred) votes for a place at the local council—he retreated from any institutional involvement.

It was thanks to this failure inter alia that poetry, an unexpected and uninvited guest, gained the upper hand as his raison d’etre. He has been grateful to the Muse since his 27th year, when she did him the honour of embracing him.