Tribute to Stratis Haviaras – Traces of Writing, Shards of Memory
About the event
Key information
- Topic: Tribute to Stratis Haviaras – Traces of Writing, Shards of Memory
- Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 6:00 pm-7:30 pm ΕΕΤ
- Location: Online, via Zoom
- Organized by: CHS Greece, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Laboratory of Narrative Research)
- Open to: All
- Language: Greek/English (the presentation by Christina Thompson)
- Speakers (in alphabetical order): Tatiana Averoff (Author), Yiannis Baskozos (Author, Director of the online magazine for books and art "O Anagnostis"), Cecile Inglessis Margellos (Translator, Critic), Theodora Patrona (Teaching and Research Staff, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Panagiotis Roilos (George Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies and of Comparative Literature, Harvard University), Ersi Sotiropoulos (Author), Christina Thompson (Editor of the Harvard Review, the literary journal founded by Stratis Haviaras)
- Activity Administration: Matina Goga (CHS Greece/Manager of the Intellectual Property Rights of Stratis Haviaras)
- Contact phone and email: (+30) 27520 47030, int. line 1, chsgreece@chs.harvard.edu
Overview
Harvard University's Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece and the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Laboratory of Narrative Research) co-organize a tribute to the author Stratis Haviaras, an emblematic figure of Greek and international letters, on the occasion of the anniversary of his passing, on March 3, 2020.
A poet, prose writer, translator, editor, teacher, and intellectual with a profound impact on both sides of the Atlantic, whose work has been translated into many languages and is associated with the rhythmic rendering of language, a distinct style, experimentation in writing in two languages, and memory. Stratis Haviaras served Poetry and his fellow writers with dedication and passion, while his long career and work at Harvard made him a point of reference for contemporary literature.
In this online tribute, close friends and people who were connected and collaborated with him will speak, shedding light on his human and literary legacy and aspects of his multifaceted work.
The order of speakers and the topics of their presentations are as follows:
- Panagiotis Roilos (Harvard University) will talk about his meeting with Stratis Haviaras and his literary work.
- Ersi Sotiropoulos (Author) will talk about her first meeting with Stratis Haviaras in Boston in 1981, and their long-standing friendship.
- Tatiana Averoff (Author) will talk about her first meeting with Stratis Haviaras in Metsovo in 1996 and about his gradual return to Greece and to the Greek language.
- Cecile Inglessis Margellos (Translator, Critic) will refer to the interlingual obstacles encountered by Stratis Haviaras in translating and self-translating his work from English into Greek: why ahna and not hnari?
- Yiannis Baskozos (Author/"O Anagnostis") will focus on the literary work of Stratis Haviaras after his return to Greece, specifically his bonsai pieces and memoirs.
- Theodora Patrona (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) will talk about the trauma of (civil) war in the prose writings of Stratis Haviaras.
- Christina Thompson (Harvard Review) will talk about the history of the literary journal founded by Stratis Haviaras, through which he served Poetry and Literature in general with passion and dedication.
After the brief talks, there will be a discussion with the audience. To register and attend the event, please follow this link.
Note: This event has concluded, and registration is closed.
Short biographical notes of the speakers
Tatiana Averoff
Tatiana Averoff studied dance and, in parallel, philosophy and psychology in Greece and in London, and worked for twenty years in private education as a school psychologist. She is the author of seven novels, has worked in literary translation, and her texts have been published in collective volumes as well as in special issues of newspapers and magazines. She is a member of the Hellenic Authors' Society and the Society of Authors & Writers of Epirus (Εταιρεία Λογοτεχνών & Συγγραφέων Ηπείρου), and has been awarded the Literature Prize of the Hellenic Society of Christian Letters (2001) for her novel Το Ξέφωτο (The Clearing).
She is currently the director of the E. Averoff Gallery in Metsovo, teaches Creative Writing workshops, and sets aside as much time as she can for writing.
Yiannis Ν. Baskozos
Yiannis Baskozos studied mathematics and completed his doctoral dissertation in the Department of Humanities of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he specialized in cultural theory. He was a long-time associate of the Lambrakis Press Group, having served, among other positions, as editor in charge of the supplement "Vima Ideon" (Tribune of Ideas) and contributor to "Vima Vivlia" (Books Tribune). He directed the magazine "Diavazo" (I Read) from 2006 until its closure in 2012, and was editor-in-chief of the English-language magazine "Hellenic Quarterly." He has published short story collections and studies and has edited scholarly volumes. His articles have appeared in many literary journals. In 2013, together with six other authors and literary critics, he founded the magazine for books and the arts "O Anagnostis" (The Reader), which he has directed ever since.
Cecile Inglessis Margellos
Cecile Inglessis Margellos is a translator and critic. She holds degrees in Sociology and Political Science (Paris), French and Classical Literature (Geneva), and a D.E.S. in French Literature (Geneva). She is actively involved in the translated literature series The Margellos World Republic of Letters, which she founded with her husband in 2007 under the auspices of Yale University Press. She has been awarded the National Prize for Literary Translation (2013) and the insignia of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic (2014).
Her annotated Modern Greek rendering of Plato’s Symposium is forthcoming from Gutenberg.
Theodora Patrona
Theodora Patrona is Teaching and Research Staff of the School of English at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki where she teaches literary classes. Dr. Patrona has published a monograph, numerous articles and chapters on the Anglophone Greek and Italian Diaspora literature. She has also co-edited a comparative volume on Greek- American and Italian-American literatures and cultures, and a special section on the obscure Greek-American women (October 2025).
Panagiotis Roilos
Panagiotis Roilos is Professor of Modern Greek Studies and of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, where he holds the George Seferis Chair. He has an extensive body of authored work, has edited volumes, collaborated on publication series, and published in scholarly journals. He is Chair of the Seminar on Modern Greek Studies at the Mahindra Humanities Center and a Faculty Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, as well as at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Hellenic Harvard Foundation.
He is President of the European Cultural Delphi Centre, founder and director of the Delphi Academy of European Studies, and of the international cultural forum Delphi Dialogues. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Panteion University. A detailed CV of Professor Panagiotis Roilos can be found here.
Ersi Sotiropoulos
Ersi Sotiropoulos has published novels, short story collections, and poetry. Her work has been honored with major awards: the Greek State Novel Prize and the Academy of Athens Prize, the "Diavazo" magazine award, the Greek State Short Story Prize, and the Dante Alighieri Poetry Prize in Italy. In France, she received the Prix Méditerranée for Best Foreign Novel for What’s Left of the Night. She has written screenplays and experimented with various expressive media, mainly in the field of visual and concrete poetry. Her works have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Slovenian, Turkish, Arabic, and Italian. Since 2013, her name has consistently appeared on the lists of favorites for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Christina Thompson
Christina Thompson is the editor of Harvard Review and the author of Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, which won the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award, and a memoir, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All. A National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, she is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Library of Australia. She teaches in the Writing Program at Harvard University Extension.