“Yannis Ritsos (1909-1990), one of the most prolific of Greece’s twentieth-century poets, was born into a land-owning family on the Byzantine-Venetian peninsular fortress of Monemvasia, in south east Laconia, and is buried in its cemetery. In this talk John Kittmer, a Ritsos scholar and former UK Ambassador to Greece, examines Ritsos’ upbringing and looks at the landmarks that would have been familiar to him, showing how the sea-girt rock shaped his poetic sensibility and, in turn, became part of Ritsos’ poetic mythopoeia.“

Thursday June, 7 at 6.00 pm

British Academy,

10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH

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