At the age of 76 and following a brief hospitalization, the esteemed Greek poet Maria Laina has passed away.
Born in Patra in 1947, Laina was a graduate of the Law School at the University of Athens.
Throughout her life, she engaged in various occupations, always intertwined with the arts. Her diverse roles included translating essays and literature, curating visual, philosophical, and literary books, contributing to programs and scripts on state radio and television, teaching Greek language and poetry at English-speaking colleges, instructing translation, and practicing journalism in literary supplements of newspapers.
With nine poetry collections, 11 plays, five prose works, four critiques and studies, an anthology of 20th-century foreign poetry, numerous book editing and translations, translations of her works into various languages, and a plethora of national and international awards, she encapsulated the essence of a literary figure, whose contribution to the arts was a clear contribution to life.
She belonged to the so-called ’70s Generation,’ a literary term referring to Greek authors who began publishing their works during the 1970s, especially towards the end of the seven-year military dictatorship and the early years of the Metapolitefsi.
In 2014, she was honored with the Kostas and Eleni Ourani Foundation Award for her overall body of work.
In 2022, she received the Grand State Literature Award for her overall contribution to literature. She was a founding member of the Society of Authors.
In 1993, she was awarded the State Poetry Prize for her poetry collection “Rhodinos Phobos.” The German translation of the same collection earned her the City of Munich Prize.
In 1996, she was honored with the Cavafy Award, and in 1998, she received the Maria Callas Award from the third program of Greek Radio.
