Top of the Class!

Maria Papayanni was born in the city of Larissa in Greece. She grew up in a house full of people, family members and beloved friends. Her older cousins provided her with books and music. Every summer they would spend three months playing, swimming, biking and watching movies in open-air cinemas. She went on to study Greek Language and Literature in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. More friends there, more of exchanging (books and music) and a lot of travelling. When she graduated, she moved to Athens, where she worked as a journalist for many years. In 1996, she married the composer Thanos Mikroutsikos. Her first book, Goodnight, Mum, was published in 2001, the same year as her second child was born. In 2002 she co-authored with Philippos Mandilaras the middle-grade adventure Catch them! and together they received a Merit Award by the Greek section of IBBY. Ever since then she writes stories for toddlers, children and adults alike and her books have won important awards (As If By Magic: Greek section of IBBY Award & Diavazo Literary Magazine Award. The Lonely Tree: National Award & Diavazo Literary Magazine Award). Her story "You Will Win Another Day", illustrated by Eve Tharlet, was translated in multiple languages by Minedition and in Greek by Patakis Publishers. She also writes for theatre, libretto and plays, performed in the Athens Concert Hall and other stages, accompanied by the music of Thanos Mikroutsikos. If you want to know more about Maria Papayanni, here she is in her own words: www.mariapapayanni.gr