Hatziyannidis, Vangelis 1967-

views updated

Hatziyannidis, Vangelis 1967-

PERSONAL:

Born 1967, in Serres, Greece. Education: Attended Athens University and the Veakis School.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Athens, Greece.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked as an actor for three years.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Best new writer, Diavazo (Greek literary magazine), 2001, and shortlist for the foreign fiction prize, Independent (London, England), 2007, both for Four Walls; Laure Bataillon Prize for best foreign book and best translation, for the French version of Four Walls.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Four Walls, translated from the Greek by Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife, Marion Boyars (New York, NY), 2006.

Stolen Time, translated from the Greek by Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife, Marion Boyars (New York, NY), 2007.

Author's work has been translated into Italian and Spanish.

SIDELIGHTS:

Vangelis Hatziyannidis was born in Serres, Greece, and now lives in Athens. He studied law at Athens University and attended the Veakis School, where he studied drama. Prior to becoming a writer, he spent three years working as an actor. Hatziyannidis's first novel, Four Walls, was released in 2001. An English translation was released in 2006. Four Walls tells the story of Rodakis, a young man who lives on a remote part of a Greek island in his family home. When a young woman appears, fleeing from her abusive husband, Rodakis is persuaded to take her into his home for protection. However, Hatziyannidis gives what could be a simple love story a series of bizarre twists that turn it into a more Gothic tale. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented that "themes of isolation and imprisonment dominate Hatziyannidis's enjoyable and peculiar debut novel." Writing for the Guardian Online, Catherine Taylor remarked that Hatziyannidis's effort was "a witty fable, satisfyingly replete with the essential ingredients of magic realism."

Stolen Time, Hatziyannidis's follow up novel, once again employs Gothic themes in unusual settings. The story follows a young archeology student who, after appearing on a game show, receives an invitation from a group of intellectuals to stay at a hotel with them for a period of two weeks, for which they will pay him a large sum of money. The hotel appears to be virtually empty, and those who remain only add to the place's peculiar atmosphere. Jill Murphy, in a review for the Bookbag Web site, remarked: "This is a moody, introspective and atmospheric book far more concerned with social dynamics, the nature of power and self-examination than it is with the course of events."