Odysseus Elytis, born 2 November 1911, Nobel Laureate.

"It is good, it is right that a contribution be made to art, from that which is assigned to each individual by his personal experience and the virtues of his language. Even more so, since the times are dismal and we should have the widest possible view of things."

"Odysseus Elytis - Nobel Lecture". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014.

Not many outside of the Greek community remember that Odysseus Elytis won the 1979 Nobel Prize in literature. He was a man of great insight and sensitivity, and was highly influenced by the political and cultural turmoil of the age in which he lived. His work has been widely translated into english, including “Maria Nephele,” (tr. Athan H. Anagnostopoulos). Though today would have been his 106th birthday, much of his writing seems as if it were written in our current time.