Dinos Christianopoulos

Konstantinos Dimitriadis (Greek: Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος; 20 March 1931 – 11 August 2020), better known by his pen name Dinos Christianopoulos, was a Greek contemporary and post-war poet, novelist, folklorist, and scholar.[1] He is known for writing the couplet: "They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds."[2] He was also a music scholar who wrote of rebetiko.[3]

Dinos Christianopoulos
BornKonstantinos Dimitriadis
(1931-03-20)March 20, 1931
Thessaloniki, Greece
DiedAugust 11, 2020(2020-08-11) (aged 89)
Thessaloniki, Greece
Alma materAristotle University of Thessaloniki
Genres
  • Novels
  • poetry
Signature

Biography

Dimitriadis was born in Thessaloniki on 20 March 1931, the son of a refugee from East Thrace. He received a degree in Classical Studies from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki[4] in 1955. He worked as a librarian from 1958 to 1965.

His first poem Age of Lean Cows was published in 1947. He was influenced by Constantine P. Cavafy[5][6] and T.S. Eliot. Dimitriadis was gay, but he never claimed his sexuality.[7] He was awarded the 2011 National Grand Prix for Literature, but refused to pick it up.[8] Aristotle University of Thessaloniki awarded him an honorary doctorate in June 2011.

He died on 11 August 2020 at the age of 89.[9] His work was donated to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Bibliography
  • Season of the Lean Cows, 1950
  • Indefensible Yearning, 1960
  • Fresh Water Stories, 1980
  • The Body and the Wormwood
  • The downward turn: Fourteen short stories, 1994

References
  1. Στον Ντίνο Χριστιανόπουλο το Μεγάλο Βραβείο Γραμμάτων 2011 (in Greek)
  2. Ponders, Ash (27 March 2021). "On Buried Seeds: The history of 'They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.'". Medium. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. "Dinos Christianopoulos, "The Poet of Thessaloniki," Was Rebetiko Scholar". GreekReporter.com. Greek Reporter. 21 September 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  4. Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος, o αιρετικός της Θεσσαλονίκης (in Greek)
  5. Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος: «Δεν έβγαλα ούτε μια δραχμή από την ποίηση» (in Greek)
  6. Demosthenes Kurtovic, "Greek Post-War Writers", Patakis Publications, 2nd ed., Athens 1999, p. 274
  7. Η ζωή και ο θάνατος του Ντίνου Χριστιανόπουλου (in Greek)
  8. Ο Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος αρνήθηκε το Μεγάλο Βραβείο Γραμμάτων Archived 2012-01-30 at the Wayback Machine (in Greek)
  9. Εφυγε από τη ζωή ο Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος (in Greek)
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