Elias Papadimitrakopoulos was born in Pyrgos, in 1930, the son of a well-known lawyer in the city. His father's death in 1943, during the German occupation, caused the family's financial ruin-and this period is often evoked in his stories, notably in Toothpaste with Chlorophyll and Maritime Hot Baths. Papadimitrakopoulos subsequently studied medicine at the Military Medical School of the University of Thessaloniki (1949-1955), specializing in pathology. He thereafter worked as a military doctor, serving in the Greek Army until his retirement in 1983. His first contributions to literary reviews began in the 1960s, notably with the appearance in 1962 of his first short story in the magazine Argo. During the same years, he began to publish-as a short-story writer, film critic, and literary critic-in other important magazines such as Tachidromos, Dialogos, Anti, Khartis, Kroniko, and To Tetarto. One of the most beloved and admired Greek short-story writers, Papadimitrakopoulos received the Petros Haris Foundation Prize from the Academy of Athens in 2010 and the National Literary Award in 2015. His collected short stories are now gathered in a six-volume set published by Gavriilidis. He lives in Athens and, during the summer, on the island of Paros.
