Rosita Sokou

journalist author,playwright, translator.

Early life and studies

Her father, Georgios Sokos, was a journalist, editor and playwright from Aitoliko who died at the age of 44, just before the war. Her mother Titika Michailidou came from Smyrna. Rosita-Maria-Zoe (her full name)was born in Athens, Greece, on September 9th, 1923. Her grandfather was a cinema and theatre fan and made her see all films and plays available every week, and Rosita started writing reviews of what she saw while in high school. She graduated from the Arsakeio School in Psychiko. During the war and occupation she perfected her French and English. She attended the School of Fine Arts, was a pupil of painter Yannis Tsarouchis and also attended the Vassilis Rotas Drama School, while working from a tender age as a translator and a foreign language teacher. After the end of the German Occupation and Civil War, in 1947, she studied 20th century literature in Oxford.

Film critic

One of the first women journalists in Greece, she started her career as a film critic in 1946, writing in newspapers such as Vradini, Kathimerini, Mesimvrini, Ethnos, Acropolis, Apoghevmatini and the English-language Athens News, as well as for numerous magazines and regularly attended film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Thessaloniki etc. From the 70s, she expanded to theatre criticism and various other columns.

After her marriage to Italian journalist and author Manlio Maradei, she lived in Rome, Italy, from 1957 to 1961, but had difficulties with the life of a housewife. Her attempts to start a new career in Italian newspapers and magazines, writing in the Italian language, and to adapt to the bourgeois mentality of Italian society of the times were only moderately successful; she then decided to come back to live in Greece with her daughter, resuming her job in "Kathimerini" (morning paper) as well as the new "Mesimvrini" (evening paper) and "Eikones" (weekly magazine) of editor Eleni Vlahou (sometimes also spelled Vlakhos).

In 1967, after the onset of the military dictatorship, Eleni Vlahou closed her media, in protest against the suppressed freedom of the press, and flew to London where she stayed for the whole duration of the dictatorship. Rosita was left jobless, and with a small child to provide for. Nevertheless she was one of the only two people (the other one was Freddie Germanos) who refused to sew Vlahou and ask for damages asking for a financial compensation - for this she faced the disciplinary board of the Journalists' Union and was threatened to be expelled from the Union. She held fast: accepting to sign the lawsuit meant to recognize that Vlahou's claim (that it was impossible to have press worthy of its name in Greece) was unsubstantial. These were difficult years, in which she worked editing encyclopaedias, translating, collaborating with magazines and finally ended up, in 1969, working for the Botsis newspapers, Acropolis and (from 1970)Apoghevmatini. There, she expanded to other subjects, writing theatre,ballet and TV reviews. On the next decade, after becoming a well-known TV persona, she had her own full page where, every Sunday, she wrote on whatever stuck her fancy. At the end of the 8-year dictatorship, Eleni Vlahou came back to Greece and opened "Kathimerini" again, and Rosita collaborated sporadically under the pseudonym of Irene Stavrou until 1987 when the newspaper was sold to the Koskotas group. Apogevmatini eventually turned her out in 2005, after 35 years, as part of the newspaper's policy to prefer young low-paid journalists.

TV

During the period 1977-1983 she became a celebrity thanks to the TV show "Na I Efkeria" ("Here's your chance", a Greek version of "Opportunity knocks"), where she was a member of the panel examining the candidates. These were the early days of TV, and the audience response was unprecedented. In 1992-93 she hosted her own TV show at Νew Channel. She welcomed the guests in her own living room, and chatted with them in an informal way, something unprecedented in the history of Greek TV.

Translations

She has translated many books – among others Aldous Huxley, Ingmar Bergman, Isaac Asimov and Stanisław Lem – reflecting her own tastes and interests, as well as comics such as the "Corto Maltese" series by Hugo Pratt. She has translated, edited and updated the two-volume "Cinema" encyclopedia by Georges Charensol.

Theatre - adaptations and translations

Since 1974 she started her deeper involvement with theatre, writing the play The Portrait of Dorian Grey (based on Oscar Wilde's novella), and adapting Georg Büchner's "Lenz" for Dimitri Potamitis' Experimental Theatre. Later on, she translated Sam Shepard’s "Shock" and Edward Albee’s "Sea View" for Yorgos’ Messalas. Together with her daughter, she translated Manjula Padmanabhan’s "Harvest" which was awarded 1st prize at the Onassis International Theatre Competition in 1998 and Jean Anouilh’s "Jesabel" for Jenny Roussea’s troupe in 1999.

Her own books

She was spurred to write a book by her chance encounter and subsequent decade-long friendship with Rudolf Nureyev. It started with an impassioned account of their meeting and a biography, in the book "Nureyev" (1982) which was followed, almost ten years later, by the play "Quai Voltaire" (1991) inspired by her experiences in the ballet scene - Quai Voltaire being the address of Nureyev's Paris flat. After the artist's death, Rosita, with the help of her daughter, greatly expanded that first work in "Nureyev – as I knew him" (2003), which not only updated the contents of the first book, but also included Rosita's day-by day diaries when she travelled to London, Paris and Vienna for the rehearsals and first production of his main works there: a fascinating behind-the scenes glimpse on the people responsible for these shows. The life of the late Greek ballet dancer Anastassios Vitoros inspired the little book"Anastassios" (1985)Another great friendship and long association with a charismatic artist was the source of her next book, "Mario and I", about singer Mario Frangoulis (2005). She is currently (2008) working on her autobiography titled "The men in my life".

Awards

She has been given the medal "Chevalier de l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" for her services to cinema by the French government (1986), and awarded by the Botsis Foundation (1988) for her offer to Greek journalism.

Family and friends

She lives in Athens. From her daughter Irene Maradei she has two grandchildren, Tancredi (1993) and Lavinia-Farida (1997). Her joy is cooking and entertaining her friends, among which there are always a few old-time schoolmates as well as many young people, who always seem to seek and enjoy her company for the freshness of her indomitable spirit.

Lists

Written Media

Newspapers:
*Oi kairoi (1948-50)
*Anexartisia (1949)
*Vradini (1949-1955)
*Athens News (1952--1960)
*Kathimerini (1953-1957 and 1960-1967, 1974-1987)
*Mesimvrini (1961-1965)
*Acropolis (1969-
*Apoghevmatini (1970-2005)
*Ethnos tis Kyriakis
*Kosmos tou ependyti

Magazines:
*Hollywood (1946)
*Eikones (1953-1957 and 1961-1967)
*Ekloghi (1955 -1961)
*Epikaira (1967)
*Proto (1967-68)
*Paidi kai Neoi goneis
*Tilerama (1984-2005)

as well as isolated articles in many more magazines

TV and Radio shows

Radio:
*"Lithoi kai keramoi" - with Kostas Ferris
*"Episkeptes tis nichtas" - with various guests

TV:
*"Na i efkairia" (Here is your chance) (1977-1983) member of the panel
*"Oneira sto fos : Na i efkairia - new version" 1997 at Channel 5
*"Oi episkeptes tis nychtas" (The night visitors) (1992-1993) New Channel

as well as many, many guest appearances

*"Mousiki vradya" (1976) guest
*"Vradia epitheorisis" (1984) - 5 episodes of the series by Yorgos Lazaridis
*"Proinos kafes" (as a guest, once a week) (1995-1996) ANT1 Channel

Film
*Pros tin eleftheria (by Haris Papadopoulos) 1996

Translations

Books and comics:
*Bergman: The trilogy of silence (3 screenplays) Ed. Galaxias
*Bergman: Three screenplays “Wild strawberries”, “The seventh seal” Ed. Galaxias, reprinted by ed. Hermias, ISBN 960-216-039-X
*Aldous Huxley: The genius and the goddess
*Stanislaw Lem: Cyberiad (1979) ed. Kaktos
*Stanislaw Lem: Solaris (1961) ed. Kastaniotis
*Isaac Asimov: I, robot ed. Galaxias
* Fantastika diighimata (Anthology of Science Fiction short stories) Ed. Galaxias, 1961
*Chanel la solitaire Ed. Galaxias
*Charensol: Histoire du cinema Ed. Papyros-Larousse
* Corto Maltese (many titles) for Mammouth Comics editions

Theatre:
*Shock - by Sam Shepard 1995
*Sea View - by Edward Albee 1996
*Harvest - by Manjula Padmanabhan (with I. Maradei) - 1988
*Jesabel - by Jean Anouilh (with I. Maradei)- 1999

Theatrical Adaptions

*Lenz, from the work of Georg Büchner
*The Portrait of Dorian Gray - from Oscar Wilde's novella 1977, for Dimitri Potamitis, also produced in 2000 with Stratos Tzortzoglou in the leading role

Original Writings

*The encephalopod – S.F. short story, first published in “Italia domani” magazine (Rome, 1960) and, in Greek, in the “Ekloghi” magazine #183 (19-6-1960)
*"Nureyev" - about her first meeting with the famous dancer/choreographer Ed. Kaktos, Athens, 1982
*"Anastassios" - a profile of the late ballet dancer Anastasios Vitoros Ed. Kaktos, Athens,1985
*"Nureyev – as I knew him" - expanded version, a full biography, with the collaboration of Irene Maradei Ed. Kaktos, Athens, 2003 ISBN 960-382-503-4
*"Quai Voltaire" - theatrical play Ed. Hatzinikoli, Athens, 1990-91
*"Mario and I", about singer Mario Frangoulis Ed. Kastaniotis, December 2005 ISBN 960-03-4126-5
*She is working (2008) on her autobiography titled "The men in my life".

Links

* [http://www.greekbooks.gr/web/Book/cv.aspx?AuthorID=72946 Her books online]