Author Dionysis Charitopoulos has died at the age of 79. He had been receiving treatment at a hospital in the Attica region in recent weeks for a serious health problem.

Dionysis Charitopoulos was born in 1947 in Piraeus, where he worked in various manual jobs at the port and in the surrounding machine shops. He abandoned two attempts at university studies, in Athens and London, at an early age. He worked in advertising until 1990.

His last book, published in 2022, was Oi Ataktoi (The Irregulars), a collection of portraits and events. He also wrote the biography of Aris Velouchiotis, titled Aris, the Leader of the Irregulars, as well as his fictionalised autobiography, Loves in the Metapolitefsi, and many other works.

He was married to journalist Malvina Karali.

The announcement by TOPOS Publishing House:

“Dionysis Charitopoulos has died. We are writing it just as he wanted us to, without saying that he ‘has passed away’, ‘has departed’ or using any of those other expressions. He was a man of few needs, resilient and true to his word, both in life and in his writing.

“Born and raised in Piraeus, with his father’s roots in Mesa Mani and his mother’s in Mikro Chorio, in the high mountains of Evrytania, he used to say he was grateful to have had the chance to live through difficult times in Piraeus. The port and its people gave him an accelerated education in survival, dignity and human nature, as he worked from an early age in demanding manual jobs.

“From his very first book in 1976, Dionysis Charitopoulos had earned the praise of literary critics and the intellectual community, and especially of readers, while also leaving them unable to categorise him. Unclassifiable, uncategorisable and independent are some of the adjectives associated with him. He did not belong to literary schools, movements or cliques, and certainly did not follow the dictates of his time. He was a category of his own. A genuinely nonconformist soul, whose writing in each of his 24 books radiates the incomparable charm of authenticity and, almost always, of deeply lived experience. These books are his sole legacy to the world.

“Dionysis Charitopoulos worked seamlessly with TOPOS Publishing House from its establishment in 2007. During this period, 12 titles were published and 12 were reissued, comprising the entirety of his previous works.

“Dionysis, all of us here at TOPOS Publishing House bid you farewell like a silent circular dance, watching you dance one last time to the only song you ever danced to, Tsitsanis’ Byzantine-style ‘Maybe Tomorrow’. We will keep as our legacy the words you chose to open your final book:

‘I will always stand with the barefoot,

outside the Winter Palace, even if they are worse

than those inside, because they are the ones who have justice on their side.’

“A warm embrace to your most worthy son, Kostas, and to your brother, Giannis.

“TOPOS PUBLISHING HOUSE”