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T
he Society of Cypriot Studies and Kypros
Chrysanthis Initiative Committee organised
a two-day scientific symposium to mark the 100
th
anniversary since the birth of a man who left his
mark on Cyprus’ intellectual movement with his
literary work, particularly poetry, and cultural
activities - Kypros Chrysanthis (1915-1998).
Organised on 27-28 November 2015, the
symposium –
Kypros Chrysanthis: Chrysoun
Nama Politismou
(Kypros Chrysanthis: Golden
Source of Culture) – came on the heels of a
Council of Ministers’decision to name 2015 “The
year of Kypros Chrysanthis”.
The symposium took place at the Society of
Cypriot Studies’ building in Old Town Nicosia.
It was addressed by the Minister of Education
and Culture, Mr Costas Kadis, as well as a
number of speakers from Cyprus and Greece,
who presented a variety of aspects of Kypros
Chrysanthis’ work, including poems, prose,
theatre, art, medicine, cultural activities,
editorial creation, sport, music, religion,
translations and history.
The Symposium was supported by the Cultural
Services of theMinistry of Education and Culture,
and by Zorbas Bakeries.
Kypros Chrysanthis
Kypros Chrysanthis, a doctor and writer, died
in June 1998 at the age of 83. With his literary
work - particularly his poetry - and his cultural
activities, he left his mark on the intellectual
movement of the forty years leading up to his
death.
He was born in 1915 in Nicosia and attended the
Pancyprian Gymnasium. He studied medicine
at Athens University (1933 - 1939), received a
doctorate from the same university (1948), and
went on to study paediatrics at the Child Health
Institute of London University. From 1940 he
practised medicine, working as a school doctor
(1943-1985) and teacher of hygiene at the
Pancyprian Gymnasium (1944-1976) and the
Pedagogical Academy of Cyprus (1961-1976).
First steps in literature
He made his first appearance in literature in
1932 with a poem in the Limassol newspaper
Paratiritis
. He continued to write and to
publish books up until his death. He was the
most prolific Cypriot writer, and one of the
most prolific writers in the wider Greek world.
His literary work is made up of two massive
volumes of poetry entitled
Lyrical Language I
and
II,
and many other collections of poems,
four bulky volumes of short stories and
novellas as well as other collections of short
stories and novellas, a large volume of plays
and other separate books of plays, more than
Scientific Symposium in honour of Kypros Chrysanthis
Kypros Chrysanthis
