IOANNIS ZEMENOS

The  Hellenic Authors’ Society and Aiolos Books present a book, the result of the 1st Meeting of Fantasy Literature, where the work of the famous (but rather unknown) Greek writer Ioannis-Andreas Zemenos was discussed and commented on. Ioannis-Andreas Zemenos (1911-1970?) showed an inclination towards adventure, the sea and letters from a young age and, as a teenager, he composed his first poems. After attending high school in Volos, he studied at the Merchant Marine Academy in Thessaloniki and sailed to the Far East. He fell into the hands of pirates, escaped and, after returning to Greece, worked in a shipping agency in Piraeus. He was arrested during the 1944 Greek naval mutiny and imprisoned in a concentration camp in Sudan. At the end of the war, he remained in Khartoum until the outbreak of the liberation struggle against the British. In 1953 he returned to Volos, where he wrote the (still) unpublished novel, I vrochi tis proigoumenis nychtas, worked in a customs office, got married and had a daughter. At the age of 53 he went to sea again and since then we have lost track of him. Reliable testimonies until the early 1970s report him living in various cities abroad.

He left behind important unpublished work, which is discussed by the following authors: Takis Grammenos, F.D. Drakontaeidis, Panos Theodoridis, Dimitris Kalokyris, Lila Konomara, Amanta Michalopoulou, Michalis Modinos, Giorgos-Ikaros Bampasakis, Iro Nikopoulou, Pavlina Pampoudi, Makis Panorios, Giannis Patilis, Ntinos Siotis, Giorgos Skampardonis and Giorgos Chouliaras, with interventions by Klaiti Sotiriadou, Lena Komini and Vangelis Germanos. The book contains rare photographic material and manuscripts.