Poet, author and translator Titos Patrikios was proposed by the French chapter of Pen International, the world association of writers with 150 member countries, to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Born in 1928, Patrikios took his first steps in poetry in 1947. A member of the intellectual left in post-war Greece, Titos Patrikios survived imprisonment, hard labour, censorship, and exile. He narrowly escaped death by firing squad, and once had to bury his poems to keep them from being discovered by the authorities.

As critics suggest, "his style bears the marks of that pressure and his persistent need to pursue what might suffice in spite of such predicaments." In 2008, Titos Patrikios was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Academy of Athens. Two other Greek poets have been honoured with the Nobel Prize in Literature in the past: Giorgos Seferis (1963 Laureate) and Odysseus Elytis (1979 Laureate).

Greek News Agenda: More on Greek Poetry