Periklis Sfyridis (born October 5, 1933, in Thessaloniki) is a contemporary Greek poet, prose writer, essayist, critic, and anthologist. His prose has been published in several languages.
Periklis Sfyridis was born in 1933 in Thessaloniki, where he lives. He graduated from the American College “Anatolia” in 1952. He studied medicine at the University of Thessaloniki (as a student of the Military Medical School) and worked as a cardiologist until 1994. From 1975 to 1981, he was president of the Thessaloniki Medical Association.
He appeared in letters in 1974 and worked closely with the literary magazine Diagonios. From 1985 to 1990, he edited Parafyada, an annual publication featuring unpublished anecdotal texts by Thessaloniki prose writers. From 1987 to 1996, he was the publishing consultant (content manager) for the magazine To Tram. In 1996, he organized the conference “Paramythia Thessaloniki” on the city’s prose from 1912 to 1995 and edited its proceedings. In 2001, he co-organized the conference “Poetry in Thessaloniki in the 20th Century” with the Department of Medieval and Modern Greek Studies at the Faculty of Philology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Thessaloniki Municipal Library, and edited its proceedings. In 2005, he organized the conference “Literary Nurseries in Thessaloniki: The City’s Literary Journals in the 20th Century and Their Editorships.” In 2008, he organized the fourth conference Criticism and Critics of Thessaloniki in the 20th Century at the Municipal Library of Thessaloniki, as part of the Demetrios Festival, and edited its proceedings (together with Sotiria Stavrakopoulou).
His short story “The Secret” is the basis for Tasos Psarras’ film “The Other Side”, the screenplay for which he wrote together with the director. Two other of his short stories have been made into television films. He also wrote the texts for the documentary series “Literature and Social Reality in Thessaloniki” by Tasos Psarras, which was broadcast by ET-3 in 1997, and for the same director’s “Literary Walks in Northern Greece” (these are the television/literary portraits of the following writers: Thanasis Markopoulos / Veria, Vasilis Karagiannis / Kozani, Lazaros Pavlidis / Kilkis, Sakis Totlis / Edessa, Vasilis Tsiambousis / Drama), a series that was broadcast repeatedly on state television in 1995.
He has published two collections of poetry, fourteen short story collections, two novels, and a memoir about his spiritual journey. He has published studies on novelists, painters, and three anthologies on Thessaloniki’s prose writers, one of which has been translated into German and another into English. He has collaborated with most Greek literary magazines. His short stories have been translated into German, English, and Dutch, as have two of his books in the same language (Dutch): the short story collection First Hand and his novel Kidney Transplant. Over one hundred serious reviews and studies of his prose work have been published in individual volumes. In November 2007, he was honored by the Municipality of Thessaloniki for his prose and critical work. From 2009 to 2010, he was a member of the electoral committee of the Vafopoulio Cultural Center of Thessaloniki, responsible for speaking events. There he also created the literary series Vafopoulio Publications.
