Nikos Kavadias was born in Manchuria, in the town of Nikolski Usuriski, near Harbin, where his father, a native of the island of Cephalonia, was a prosperous merchant. Because of the turbulent events taking place in the area at the time, Kavadias’s father brought his family back to Greece. During the Russian Revolution, Nikos’s father disappeared and the family had no idea of his whereabouts for seven years. Having served time in a Soviet prison, he never regained his health. Kavadias enrolled in medical school in 1928, but because of his father’s incapacity, he was forced to work as a clerk in his uncle’s shipping office. He published his first poems in the Great Greek Encyclopedia under a pseudonym and began to frequent the literary circles of Piraeus.

When his father died in

1472 words

Citation: Holst-Warhaft, Gail. "Nikos Kavadias". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 February 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12307, accessed 28 March 2024.]

12307 Nikos Kavadias 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.