George Leonardos (; born 1937) is a Greek author of historical novels.

Early life

Son of Anastase and Maria, Leonardos was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

on 20 February 1937. His father died when he was two years old and he lived with his mother in Alexandria until 1954. He was an avid reader of fiction and history, and as a high school student in Alexandria had his short stories published in ''Tachydromos'' and ''Anatoli'', the Greek daily newspapers of the city. In 1954 he moved to Greece to study physics at the

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ( AUTh; ), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the second oldest tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, about east of Thessa ...

Career

After his graduation, he studied journalism and began to work as a journalist. He worked as a reporter for Athens newspapers

Apogevmatini ''Apogevmatini'' (, "Afternoon") was a Greece, Greek newspaper published nationally in Athens. The newspaper was founded by Nasos and Sakis Botsis in 1952. It had a semi-economic liberalism, liberal approach towards the economy and a right-wing p ...

Eleftherotypia ''Eleftherotypia'' () was a daily national newspaper published in Athens, Greece. Published since 21 July 1975, it was the first newspaper to appear after the fall of the Regime of the Colonels, and for most of its period had been one of the ...

, Mesimvrini,

Eleftheros Typos ''Eleftheros Typos'' (, in English, "Free Press") is a daily newspaper published in Athens. It was founded in 1916 by Andreas Kavafakis, a liberal Venizelist politician. Kavafakis was murdered in 1922 by anti-Venizelists (see National Schism) ...

, Ethnos and as a columnist in the financial paper Kerdos. He was the first correspondent of the

Athens News Agency The Athens News Agency (ANA; ) was one of the two major news agencies in Greece, the other being the Macedonian Press Agency, before they merged into the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA). History The Athens News Agency (ANA) is the national n ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

in 1964, and later in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1976, where he was also appointed director of the local Greek newspaper Ethnicos Kirikas. He has also worked as a newscaster in Greek Radio and Television, and has reported on the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and the

Persian Gulf war , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. Leonardos is a member of the Athens Association of Daily Press Editors and the National Society of Greek Writers. His first novel, ''Grandma’s Red Sofa'', was published in 1992. He was twice awarded the prize for best historical novel by the Greek Society of Christian Studies for his novels ''Mara, the Christian Sultana'' and ''Sleeping Beauty of Mystra''. He was awarded a Botsis Foundation prize for his services to journalism and literature. In 2008 he was awarded with the Greek State Prize for his historical trilogy The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium and specially for the third historical novel of the mentioned trilogy "The Last Palaeologue

In 1980 he published the ''English-Greek Dictionary of Scientific and Military Terms'', and in 2000 he published ''The Structure of the Novel''. His latest historical novel is ''

Sophia Paleologue Sophia Fominichna Palaiologina or Paleologue (; born Zoe Palaiologina; ; – 7 April 1503) was a Byzantine princess from the Palaiologos imperial dynasty and the grand princess of Moscow as the second wife of Ivan III of Russia. Her fath ...

Palaelogina – From Byzantium to Russia''.

Works

Novels

* ''Grandmam's red sofa'', 1992 * ''The house over the catacombs'', 1993 * ''Eva'', 1994 * ''The magnet poles'', 1995 * ''Earth's lovers'', 1996 * ''A song from the soul'', 1997

Historical novels

* ''Barbarossa the Pirate'', 1998 * ''Mara, the Christian Sultana'', 1999 * ''Maria Magdalene'', 2001 * ''Sleeping Beauty of Mystra'', 2002 * ''Michael VIII Palaeologue'', 2004 * ''The Palaeologues'', 2006 * ''The last Palaeologue'', 2007. * ''Sophia Paleologue – From Byzantium to Russia'', 2008 * ''Magellan'',2009 * ''Thule'' 2010 * ''The Alexandria Rhapsody'' 2011 * ''The Last Sip of Wine'' 2013 * ''Islands Forgotten by the Time - Don Teodoro Griego'', 2014 * ''Justinian ii;-The slit-nosed'', 2016 * ''The Sarantapichena;- The story of Irene the Athenian'', 2016

References

National Book Center of Greece

TO VIMATA NEAAward of Botsis Foundation
*Who's Who (1979) p. 363 *Who's Who Metron (1995) p. 452 *European Who's Who (2002–2003) p. 1047

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardos, George Living people Egyptian emigrants to Greece Greek historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages 1937 births Writers from Alexandria Maritime writers Egyptian people of Greek descent