Giannis Ritsos(1909-1990)

Giannis Ritsos was a prolific Greek poet and novelist. He published at least 8 volumes of poetry, 22 novels, and a relatively large number of individual poems and non-fiction works. His "Moonlight Sonata" (1956) remains his most popular work, depicting an unnamed old woman's thoughts on her past, her long-term solitude, and her mortality within a decaying house. Ritsos was a member of the Greek Resistance during World War II, and was affiliated with communist parties for most of his adult life. In the post-war era, he spend several years incarcerated as a political prisoner in Greece's prison islands such as Makronisos, Gyaros, and Agios Efstratios, where barracks and facilities for housing prisoners served as concentration camps.