Author Alexis Stamatis died at the age of 67, following a battle with a rare blood disorder he had been battling in recent years.

Throughout his long literary career, he published a total of 34 books, 20 of which were novels. His first novel, titled *The Seventh Elephant* (1998), was published in the United Kingdom. His work “Bar Flaubert” was particularly well-received and translated into many languages, while “American Fugue” was honored in the United States.

At the same time, he published poetry collections, wrote plays that were staged at major theaters in Athens, and wrote the screenplay for the film *Storm*.

Until recently, he worked as a columnist for the newspaper “To Vima.”

He was the son of architect Kostas Stamatis and actress Betty Arvaniti.

He was also married to actress Eva Simatou, with whom he has a son, Hermes.

His Writing Career

Alexis Stamatis was born in 1960 in Athens. After spending a year in the Mathematics Department at the University of Athens, he studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and earned master’s degrees in architecture and film in London.

In 1998, he read poetry at the Edinburgh Festival. His poetry has been published in the British literary magazine *Modern Poetry in Translation*.

His first novel, *The Seventh Elephant* (Kedros, 1998; 2nd ed., Kastaniotis, 2016) was published in the United Kingdom by Arcadia Books and in Bangladesh.

His second novel, “Bar Flaubert” (Kedros, 2000; 2nd ed., Kastaniotis, 2012), was published in France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Serbia, and (in 2007) in Great Britain by the same publisher, and was adapted into a screenplay as part of a Greek Film Center (EKK) program, in collaboration with director Vasilis Doublis.

This was followed by the novels *Like a Thief in the Night* (2002), *Theseus Street* (2003), *Life* (2005), “Mother of Ashes” (2005), “American Fugue” (2006), “Villa Combre” (2008), “Kill What You Love,” 2009, “Sunday” (2011), “Can You Cry in the Water?” (2012), “Chameleons” (2013), “Melissia” (2014), “The Book of Rain” (2015).

“The American Fugue” won the International Literature Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and was published in the U.S.

“Mother Ash” (2005) was published in the U.S. and Turkey. His first children’s novel, “Alkis and the Labyrinth” (2009), was awarded First Prize by the Greek Children’s Book Circle.

He has published the following poetry collections: *A Corner of the World*, Sokolis, 1992; *Interior Architecture*, Kastaniotis, 1993; *A Simple Method of Three* (Kastaniotis, 1995), *Dense Now* (Hellenic Letters, 1999), *The Closer I Get, the Further Away the Future Gets* Rodakio, 2002, and “We Are Never Alone,” Kastaniotis, 2004.

For his collection *Interior Architecture*, he was awarded the Nikiforos Vrettakos Memorial Poetry Prize by the City of Athens in 1994.

The same poetry collection, along with “The Simple Method of Three” and “Dense Now,” has been translated into English and is published by Dionysia Press. She has written the librettos for works by composer Theodoros Abatzis, which were performed at the Megaron Concert Hall and the “Chora” Theater.

His monologue “Last Martha” was performed in 2008 at the “Kefalinias Street Theater.” Two of his monologues, titled “Genesis,” were staged in 2009 at the “Chora Theater.”

His play “Tear Gas” was presented in 2010 at the “Kefalinias Street Theater.”

Source: Protothema.gr