Dinos Christianopoulos

Konstantinos Dimitriadis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Δημητριάδης; 20 March 1931 – 11 August 2020), better known by his pen name Dinos Christianopoulos (Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος), was a Greek contemporary and post-war poet, novelist, folklorist, and scholar.[1] He was also a music scholar who wrote about rebetiko.[2]

Dinos Christianopoulos
BornKonstantinos Dimitriadis
(1931-03-20)March 20, 1931
Thessaloniki, Greece
DiedAugust 11, 2020(2020-08-11) (aged 89)
Thessaloniki, Greece
Alma materAristotle University of Thessaloniki
Genres
  • Novels
  • poetry
Signature

As Christianopoulos, he is widely known for writing the couplet: "They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds."[3]

Biography

Dimitriadis was born in Thessaloniki on 20 March 1931, the son of a refugee from East Thrace. He received a degree in Classical Studies from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki[4] in 1955. He worked as a librarian from 1958 to 1965.

His first poem Age of Lean Cows was published in 1947. He was influenced by Constantine P. Cavafy[5][6] and T.S. Eliot. Dimitriadis was gay, but he never claimed his sexuality.[7] He was awarded the 2011 National Grand Prix for Literature, but refused to pick it up.[8] Aristotle University of Thessaloniki awarded him an honorary doctorate in June 2011.

He died on 11 August 2020 at the age of 89.[9] His work was donated to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Bibliography
  • Season of the Lean Cows, 1950
  • Indefensible Yearning, 1960
  • Fresh Water Stories, 1980
  • The Body and the Wormwood
  • The downward turn: Fourteen short stories, 1994

References
  1. Στον Ντίνο Χριστιανόπουλο το Μεγάλο Βραβείο Γραμμάτων 2011 (in Greek)
  2. "Dinos Christianopoulos, "The Poet of Thessaloniki," Was Rebetiko Scholar". GreekReporter.com. Greek Reporter. 21 September 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  3. Ponders, Ash (27 March 2021). "On Buried Seeds: The history of 'They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.'". Medium. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος, o αιρετικός της Θεσσαλονίκης (in Greek)
  5. Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος: «Δεν έβγαλα ούτε μια δραχμή από την ποίηση» (in Greek)
  6. Demosthenes Kurtovic, "Greek Post-War Writers", Patakis Publications, 2nd ed., Athens 1999, p. 274
  7. Η ζωή και ο θάνατος του Ντίνου Χριστιανόπουλου (in Greek)
  8. Ο Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος αρνήθηκε το Μεγάλο Βραβείο Γραμμάτων Archived 2012-01-30 at the Wayback Machine (in Greek)
  9. Εφυγε από τη ζωή ο Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος (in Greek)
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