Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou: Greece Author

For me writing is the thing I love to do most. And when I have managed to overcome the inherent difficulties of my work, I feel a satisfaction so deep that it feels as if it emerges from my very soul.

Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou

Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou was born in Athens on August 12, 1937 and studied music, foreign languages, and literature. She worked for the Intergovernment Committee for Migration for 27 years prior to making her debut in children's literature in 1973. Since then she has written 60 books, including 51 for young people, three for adults, and five books about children's literature. She has also illustrated several books.

Her daily contact with homeless people, war victims, and needy children, as well as her own tragic experiences growing up during World War II and the Greek Civil War, inspired the ideas for many of her books. Her themes, although drawn from Greek reality and culture, are of worldwide importance. Profound humanity, compassion, respect for cultural diversity, care for unprotected children, and international understanding are the values projected in many of her books. While her writing often deals with problems familiar to children growing up in developing countries, readers anywhere in the world can identify themselves in her stories. Her body of work promotes ideas that have a universal and timeless appeal.

In scholarly reviews of her work, critics cite her skill in relating her novels to one another, while still maintaining their individual integrity. Her body of work encompasses different facets of human experience, and deals with separate topics ranging from human rights (The Boy from the Sea) and the rejection of war (Wrong Mr. Neuger!; Chocolate Time) to divorce, death, and family conflicts (Black Coral in the Pocket; The Red Wrath). While characters remain the same from one novel to another, each novel is autonomous and not necessarily a sequel or a prequel to others. She is lauded for her ability to write cross-textually which allows her books to re-introduce characters previously invented in other books.

Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou has received every major Greek award of children's literature. She received the 1984 Academy of Athens Prize, which is the highest literary award for an acclaimed author in Greece, and the 1999 State Prize for Children's Literature. Her work has been translated into a variety of languages and her books for children have sold more than one million copies in Greece.