Kiki Dimoula ( Vasiliki Radou (Βασιλική Ράδου); ; 6 June 1931 – 22 February 2020) was a Greek poet. She was the first female poet ever to be included in the prestigious French publisher Gallimard’s poetry series.Nytimes.com, Rachel Donadio, Inside a Greek Poet’s Work, a Reflection of Her Country’s Hard Times
Work Dimoula's work is haunted by the existential dissolution of the post-war era. Her central themes are hopelessness, insecurity, absence and oblivion. Using diverse subjects (from a "Marlboro boy" to mobile phones) and twisting grammar in unconventional ways, she accentuated the power of the words through astonishment and surprise, but always managed to retain a sense of hope.
Her poetry has been translated into English, French, German, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Italian and many other languages. In 2014, the eleventh issue of Tinpahar published 'Kiki Dimoula in Translation', which featured three English translations of her better known works.
Recognition Dimoula was awarded the Greek State Prize twice (1971, 1988), as well as the Kostas and Eleni Ouranis Prize (1994) and the Αριστείο Γραμμάτων of the Academy of Athens (2001). She was awarded the European Prize for Literature for 2009.Kiki Dimoula to Receive European Literature Prize Since 2002, Dimoula was a member of the Academy of Athens.
Personal life Dimoula worked as a clerk for the Bank of Greece. She was married to the poet Athos Dimoulas (1952–1985), with whom she had two children.
Works Ποιήματα (Poems), 1952 Έρεβος (Erebus), 1956 Ερήμην (In absentia), 1958 Επί τα ίχνη (On the trail), 1963 Το λίγο του κόσμου (The Little of the World),1971 Το Τελευταίο Σώμα μου (My last body), 1981 Χαίρε ποτέ (Farewell Never),1988 Η εφηβεία της Λήθης (Lethe's Adolescence), 1996 Eνός λεπτού μαζί (One Minute's Together), 1998 Ήχος απομακρύνσεων (Departure's Sound), 2001 Χλόη θερμοκηπίου (Glass-house lawn), 2005 Μεταφερθήκαμε παραπλεύρως (We moved next door), 2007 Συνάντηση (Meeting), 2007 (Anthology with seventy-three paintings by John Psychopedis) Έρανος Σκεψεων, 2009 Τα εύρετρα, 2010 Δημόσιος Καιρός, 2014
Notes
External links Kiki Dimoula in Translation Her entry for the 2001 Frankfurt Book Fair (Greek) Her page at the website of the Hellenic Authors' Society (Greek) and English. Sound files of her reading her poetry at the Center for Neo-Hellenic Studies The website of her publishers European Prize for Literature