Minas Dimakis ( el, Μηνάς Δημάκης) (20 April 1913,

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban ...

Cretan State The Cretan State ( el, Κρητική Πολιτεία, Kritiki Politeia; ota, كريد دولتى, Girid Devleti) was established in 1898, following the intervention by the Great Powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany ...

- 1980,

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

poet.

Biography

Minas Dimakis was born 1913 in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

, to Georgios Dimakis, a tradesman, and Maria Metaxaki. After his father's death in 1917, his mother got married again to Athanasios Spanoudakis with whom she had two more children: Ekaterini and Eleonora. His mother died in 1921. From 1919 to 1924 he studied at the lyceum ''O Korais'' and in 1930 he finished his high school studies at the Heraklion Gymnasium. He worked at the family enterprises till 1936, who were involved in the trade of grapes, and later was employed at the city's tourism office of Heraklion. In 1935 he published on his own his first copy of ''Leaves of Art'' (''Φύλλα Τέχνης''), a literary magazine that included poems and translations. Starting on 1937 he worked for the

Bank of Greece The Bank of Greece ( el, Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος , ΤτΕ) is the central bank of Greece. Its headquarters is located in Athens on Panepistimiou Street, but it also has several branches across the country. It was founded in 19 ...

in Heraklion, and in 1943 he was transferred to

, where he worked till 1959 when he decided to retire to dedicate his time to literature. During the Axis occupation of Greece, he collaborated with the National Liberation Front. He published critical essays for the ''Mesimvrini'' (''Μεσημβρινή'') newspaper between 1966 and 1967. Among the literary awards he obtained stand out the Second State Award of Poetry in 1960 and the Academy Award in Essay in 1973. Minás Dimákis committed suicide in Athens in 1980.Dimákis, Minás
"Lo pasado,"
''La Jornada Semanal'' 678, Mexico City: March 2, 2008.

References

1913 births 1980 suicides Writers from Heraklion People from the Cretan State Greek male poets National Liberation Front (Greece) members Suicides in Greece 20th-century Greek poets 1980 deaths {{Greece-poet-stub