10.10.2018

I made the big and particularly difficult decision to grant an interview to myself. I don't believe that I did something original because I am sure that other writers, journalists and generally people with other occupations have done something similar. So my purpose was not to do something special and special. I tried and I think I succeeded at least partially to be a little more revealing. And that was my goal.

– I would like to know something about you. Something minimal or even something more than what is on your resume and you feel the need to reveal it to us.

I was born in May 1978 in Larissa and since then this month had and has something special for me. Usually every year in this month many special and memorable things happen for me.
Until I was thirteen I lived in Larissa in the eastern suburbs of the city and that was where my whole world was. Everything I had and everything I did developed there. It was the center of my universe. Except for the summers I spent on the prefecture's beaches. From 1991 we immigrated as a family to Germany and to the city of Frankfurt. A migration that was to change our lives. Now we feel no regrets at all about this choice. Our horizons have opened up enough giving us many possibilities for our future.

– I want you to tell me an advantage and a disadvantage of your character.

As my advantage I have justice. I am fair to everyone and everything. And I have a weakness for perfectionism. But I would also like to mention my pride which sometimes acts as an advantage and sometimes again as a disadvantage depending on the circumstances.

– When did you start writing and what event prompted you to publish your first book?

I started writing in high school and mostly short poems. In high school I thought I had reached a very high level of writing, cultivating since then the dream of first being a poet and then being a writer. I thought I wrote really well and I wanted more than anything to be a writer. But my life was developing in such a way that this dream remained in me as a very sweet repressed, until what happened that turned everything upside down. Being admitted to hospital and diagnosed with MS forced me into a more sedentary lifestyle and work. Then I saw my future uncertain and I would have to immediately make radical decisions and change everything. My life had begun to be controlled by the beast of hardening, but when all seemed lost, my lost dream came to the fore. Then lying in the hospital bed I made the big decision to become a writer. Definitively and irrevocably. After all, my situation could not be postponed any more.

– This event definitely affects your life. To what extent does it affect the writing as well and if it affects it positively or negatively?

Writing is my life and if it affects my life then it affects it too. Because of my health I cannot work like a healthy writer. That is, to put my life in some 'mold', starting at 9 o'clock in the morning with writing and dealing with it for eight hours. This is not possible without knowing the actual schedules of the authors. If they really work like that, I'm pretty far away. In my case, on a daily basis, everything depends on my health condition alone.

– Your first book is 'How Greek are you?' Why did you write it and what message do you want to send to the readers?

Switzerland geographically belongs to Europe but is practically far from everything. This alone was a very important element for me to study this state. Also the choice of immigrants to continue living there is an excellent but also a very difficult decision. One's choice, that is, to live in a rich country was yet another reason to write my first book about that country. And I combined all this with the expatriate! What is it like to live as an immigrant in a country where the people play golf and have solved their financial problem? What is it like to live far from Greece in a state where not many of your compatriots live?
But there is also the wounded morale of the Greeks. From a land of ideas we found ourselves running to catch up with other countries that once did not exist. But that's life! This is what world history teaches us. Civilizations flourish and then decline. And this is accompanied by the prosperity of other cultures. Let's not go crazy! And our own civilization may not flourish again. Let's not live with illusions. But we have to find our identity again. An important role was played by the fact that we are left far behind culturally. And this, from what it seems, ditched us. When all of Europe was experiencing the Renaissance, we were surviving. This delayed us! And that's why we have to be ready! We need a new Renaissance just like Europe now.

– What do you think is the future of Europe and what is your vision and how feasible is it?

When the project of United Europe had started I felt proud and confident about the bright future of the Old Continent. Now I feel like so many people that I was laughed at. I cannot predict or even imagine her future. My vision was the same as that of all Europeans. A human Europe. By no means a continent of technocrats as it eventually evolved. I don't know if it is feasible. Here we go!

– What is your opinion about climate change?

It worries me enough. Nature takes its revenge and I believe that we have not yet faced the most extreme situations. The planet will endure as it always has, but the question is what will happen to all living things, be it animals or plants. I want to believe that there is still time to embark on radical changes and to limit or completely end pollution in all its forms.

- What place does love have in your life?

Love, emotion and generally all strong emotions are the beginning of creation. The starting force. The raw material of writers but also of all artists.

– In addition to writing books, we saw that you are also involved in other things. Definitely about writing, but definitely different. I am referring to journalism, theater and cinema. Tell us a little about these activities of yours.

Journalism was never in my dreams. It came, at some point, completely unexpectedly in my life. It started timidly but along the way it developed into an intense activity that I respect to the fullest! It is a way of searching for the truth. Of course it is not literature, but it can help to collect ideas, images and situations that a writer needs.
Now as far as theater and cinema are concerned, that is, writing scripts, it is a great love of mine that proved over time that it was not enough. Of course, I met remarkable people like Mr. Alexandros Kakavas whom I consider my mentor and I faithfully follow his advice, but my first attempts both in the theater and in scriptwriting failed. In these two years that I was involved in theater and cinema, I may have been far behind in terms of writing and delayed, but I learned important things that developed me quite a bit. I got a lot better at writing a book from start to finish, that is, from the conception of a good idea to its completion.

– Which book do you distinguish from Greek and which from foreign literature?

Some book that I liked very much some other people didn't like it at all. For this reason I do not want to mention any book. The premise of a good book is purely subjective!

– In the books you read, was there one or even some that you did not finish; did you leave them in the middle, did you abandon them? And if so, why?

Yes, of course, although I know that I did an injustice to the author and the history of the book. The reasons are many but I don't want to name them. What is certain is that each author is referring to a different audience, and we certainly all distinguish certain types of books compared to others. And for the same reason a writer should never try to write for the whole world. Big mistake. The same goes for reading. It is natural that we do not like some of the books we read. That doesn't mean they aren't worth it.

– What should we expect from you in the future?

I'm almost done with the book I'm writing on multiple sclerosis. But I have decided not to submit it for publication yet. My next books will be detective stories and of course I continue to insist on writing plays. Mostly comedies.

– What are the three words that describe yourself?

Fighter, moral, kind.