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Tassos Athanasiadis is one of the most popular authors of the 40s generation in Greece. He was born in a rich family in 1913 in Minor Asia, in the town of Salixli. He returned in Greece in 1922 when the Turks re-conquered Minor Asia, and he became a lawyer. He was the General Secretary of the Greek National Theatre for a number of years (1944-1972). He wrote a book about the Greek writer Kosmas Politis when he was rather young, he continued with short novellas, and a book about the life of the first Greek Prime-minister I. Kapodistrias Taxidi Sthn Monaksia - 'Journey Into Solitude'. The popularity came some years later when he produced a massive (4 books) novel of a rich family named Pantheoi. The book was based around events in World War 2, and 30 years later it become a great TV series, with great popularity starring K. Dandoulaki, A. Antonopoulos, F. Georgitis etc. He also received the State Novel Prize.
His next novel was published in 1969 and it was about a group of young people lining a hot summer on an island just before the Greek dictatorship. It became also a TV series (A. Lempesopoulos, M. Naypliotou, M. Kougioumtzis, A. Alexandrakis, A. Syssobitis). The name of the book was 'H Aithousa Tou Thronou' - The Throne's Chamber. It also won the State prize for best novel.
Mr. Athanasiadis wrote also biographies of the humanitarian scientist Albert Schweitzer, for the Greek-Byzantine King Iouliano, and the Russian author Dostoevsky. He also wrote massive family novels like 'Oi Froyroi Ths Axaias' - The Guardians Of Axaia, about the lives of the members of a family during the Greek dictatorship (1967-1974). Also a TV series starring Anna Synodinou, Stratos Tzortzoglou, Mimi Ntenish, Katerina Xelmh. The following book was named 'Oi Teleytaioi Eggonoi' - The Last Grandchildren, and it was about the lives of the members of a family after 1974. It also won a best novel prize. Also a TV series starring Basia Panagopoulou, Antonis Kafetzopoulos etc.
His last massive book, around 4 big issues, was 'Ta Paidia Ths Niovis' -Niovis Children, and it was inspired by his childhood back in Salixli, just before the Turks took over. It's a bittersweet book full of memories. In the last decade he has also published a memoir of his journey and return to his childhood homeland, Asia Minor, Salixli and a small book with three stories about the life of Greeks during the Middle Ages.
In 1997 Mr. Athanasiadis received the Herder Prize in a ceremony held in the University of Austria for his contribution to the Greek and European Literature. In 1999, 14th of September, he attended the Commemoration Day of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, he was among other 96 first generation refugees. Among others was the famous Greek author, Dido Sotiriou.
