Socrates L. Skartsis is a Greek poet, writer, philologist and professor. He was born in Patras in 1936, and was married to Evangelia Nikoloudaki with whom he had three children, Xeni, Lambros and Stefania. He has studied and taught philology and is currently an Emeritus Professor at the University of Patras. His work includes poetry, literary studies and papers, translations, periodicals, publications and conferences, including the Poetry Symposium in Patras, which for almost four decades remained one of the most important literary institutions in Greece.

 

In the early 1970s he founded “Ostraka”, a pioneering cultural institution in Patras, which organized many presentations, mainly by young creators, and various events, as well as the publication of periodicals and books.

He is the founder of the “Poetry Symposium”, a pioneering international literary conference, held every year between 1981 and 2018 under the auspices of the University of Patras, where hundreds of writers and poets from Greece and abroad presented literary studies, reviews and poems (all published in the annual “Proceedings of the Poetry Symposium”).

He is also the creator of  “University of Patras Publications”.

To date he has published a total of about 300 books: poetry, books on language,  religious studies, literary folklore, cultural anthropology, as well as translations regarding various peoples and eras. He has also published 14 different magazines. Nonetheless, poetry has remained his main focus.

Several books and papers have been written regarding his work, tributes and events have been held in his honour, including those organized by the University of Patras, the Municipality of Patras, and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus. His work has also been presented by radio and television broadcasts.

His poetry has been included in many anthologies and periodicals, and has also been translated into various languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Hungarian, Albanian, Bulgarian).