Dimitris Lyacos
Dimitris Lyacos is a contemporary Greek poet and playwright. He is the author of the Poena Damni trilogy. Renowned for its genredefying form and the avantgarde combination of themes from literary tradition with elements from ritual, religion, philosophy and anthropology, Lyacoss work reexamines grand narratives in the context of some of the enduring motifs of the Western Canon. Poena Damni was written over a period of thirty years, with the individual books revised and republished in different editions during this period and arranged around a cluster of concepts including the scapegoat, the quest, the return of the dead, redemption, physical suffering, mental illness. Lyacoss characters are always at a distance from society as such, fugitives, like the narrator of Z213 Exit, outcasts in a dystopian hinterland like the characters in With the People from the Bridge, or marooned, like the protagonist of The First Death whose struggle for survival unfolds on a desertlike island.
Lyacos was born and raised in Athens where he studied Law. From 19881991 he lived in Venice, then moved to London, studied philosophy at University College London and stayed there for thirteen years. He is currently based in Berlin.
Source: Wikipedia