About the Author
Stephanos
Papadopoulos was born in North Carolina and raised in Paris and Athens. Educated in the US and Edinburgh, he holds
a degree in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His poetry has been published
in numerous periodicals such as The Yale Review, Poetry Review, Stand Magazine, The New Republic and many others.
His work attracted the attention of Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott, who invited him to attend the Rat Island Foundation's
first program on St. Lucia in 1998. He has read at Oxford University for the United Nation's Dialogue Among Civilizations
poetry festival as well as the North Carolina Literary Festival, the National Arts Club in NY, The Julliard School,
The University of Milano, The German-American Institute in Heidelberg and numerous other events. In 2004 he was
one of four American poets selected by the Fundacion Neruda to read at the Neruda centennial in Santiago, Chile.
His poetry has been translated into Greek by the acclaimed poet, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, and published in Greece's
leading journal, Poetry. Selections have also been translated into Spanish by the Biblioteca National in Chile
as well as Italian. He has translated works of the Greek poet, Yiannis Ritsos, Anghelaki-Rooke, Kostas Karyotakis
and Cavafy. Lost Days, his first collection, is published by Michael Hulse with Leviathan Press in London and Rattapallax
Press in New York. His second book, Casual as Birds, is forthcoming.CRITICAL EXCERPTS
"Stephanos Papadopoulos has several qualities as a poet, one of the most conspicuous being his talent for the elegiac, his ability to bring to life memories and artefacts from times past, 'before the gods became a circus out of work'. 'Some things will not collapse,' he winks at Sextus Propertius, and, in his poetry, they don't. 'If I am to have a talent,' he writes, 'let it be this…and hold a vision true, to a moment's epiphany…' Stephanos Papadopoulos has that talent."
Bengt Jangfeldt
(Swedish critic and historian,
winner of the August Strindberg Prize)
"This first collection is a breath of meltemi, (wind) blowing away the stuffiness of so much current poetry…It is easy to see him following in Seferis's footsteps but in the landscape of our own time…There is sometimes a nicely melancholy tone to Papadopoulos's work which puts him in the great tradition of poetic sorrows. But the elegance and flair in these poems makes the reader look forward to his next volume. Leviathan is wise to publish him."
Anne Born, Tears in the Fence
"…A streetwise, well-traveled 'penseroso'. He has a distinctive body of subject matter. He has a sharp eye…work so exceptionally rich in atmosphere and observation."
Robert Saxton, Poetry review
"…One can hardly fail to notice the sensuality of Stephanos poapadopoulos' Lost Days. Frequently through flashing (but not flashy) metaphor, Papadopoulos creates too a sense of the infinite and intangible aspects of the world…Papadopoulos is able to pay tribute to such poets as Montale, cavafy and Brodsky without ever seeming dwarfed or dominated by them.
Anthony Haynes, The Tablet, London
"These poems of place---Greece, America, Paris, St. Lucia, UK---depend on the poet's capacity for the vignette, the snap-shot, the swift conjuring of mood. These poems, particularly the Greek ones , reveal an intent and faithful and effortless fluency. The Greek ones in particular because they are small windows into a bigger, darker, historic canvas…The intensity of observation, the fluency and a psychological stance that captures an emptiness behind the watching makes this collection an impressive dedication to the chosen places and people."
Judy Gahan, Ambit
"…in 'Lost Days' it is quickly evident that classical European poetry has been 'crossed' with the American tradition…there has so far been no German translation of 'Lost Days' and that is a great, great shame."
Von Franz Shneider, Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung
"…When I first read Lost Days by Stephanos Papadopoulos, I was struck not only by the quality of the poetry itself but also by the atmosphere of universality that permeates the book. While the diction remains American, the poems move with great ease from Paris to Greece, to Sweden to New York. This tone and attitude denote of course, not a school of art but a testimony of a life's experience."
Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke (winner of the Greek National Award for Poetry)
You can e-mail Stephanos at stpapas@hotmail.com