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Dido Sotiriou

Dido Sotiriou (Greek Διδώ Σωτηρίου) was a Greek writer and journalist.

Sotiriou was born Dido Pappa, to a wealthy family, on February 18, 1909 in Aydini, Asia Minor. In 1919, the Pappas family relocated to Smyrna and three years later were forced to flee to Greece in the aftermath of the Asia Minor disaster. In Greece she married Platon Sotiriou and afterwards left for France to study in the Sorbonne.

In 1936, she started working as a journalist and by 1944 became chief editor of the communist daily Rizospastis. Sotiriou was expelled from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) during the Greek Civil War.

In 1959, she published her first book "Οι νεκροί περιμένουν" (The Dead await). Three years later, she published her most successful book "Ματωμένα χώματα" (literally Bloodied earth - Farewell to Anatolia) which was translated into many languages and sold over 250,000 copies.

In 1990, Sotiriou was awarded Greece's highest honour for a writer, the prize of the Athens Academy. She died on September 23, 2004, at the age of 95.

Sotiriou was the sister of Ellie Pappa, partner of Nikos Beloyiannis who was executed during the Cold War era. She raised their child, Nikos, during her sister's imprisonment.

Her works

  • Οι νεκροί περιμένουν (The Dead await) (1959)
  • Ηλέκτρα (Electra) (1961)
  • Ματωμένα χώματα (Farewell to Anatolia) (1962)
  • Η Μικρασιάτικη Καταστροφή και η στρατηγική του ιμπεριαλισμού στην Ανατολική Μεσόγειο

(The Asia Minor disaster and the strategy of imperialism in the eastern Mediterranean) (1975)

  • Εντολή (The Order) (1976)
  • Μέσα στις φλόγες (In the Flames) (1978)
  • Επισκέπτες (Visitors) (1979)
  • Κατεδαφιζόμεθα (We're being demolished) (1982)
  • Θέατρο (Theatre) (1995)