Stayroula Dekoulou - Papadimitriou

Stavroula Dekoulou was born and raised in Athens. Her great love for writing began in her childhood, with her short stories being published in magazines during the 1990s. Her poems, short stories, and fairy tales have won first and second prizes in national and international literary competitions organized by esteemed cultural institutions. She has served as a jury member in both national and international literary competitions and collaborates with numerous publishing houses, writing poetry and literary critiques. Her poems have inspired painters to create artworks based on her writing, and two of her songs have been set to music by composer Xenophon Tsitos and presented at musical-poetic evenings. She publishes in the literary magazines Nea Ariadne and Kelaino, in the literary newspaper Noumas, and has contributed to several anthologies, albums, and calendars with her poems or short stories. Her fairy tales have been dramatized and are taught in kindergartens and language schools. Recently, her poems were translated into English and featured in the trilingual poetry anthology Mes Ami by Panagiota Christopoulou Zaloni, published by Vergina Editions, which has traveled to many countries abroad. In 2016, she was awarded the Hopeful Poet of the Year award by the Xasteron Group. Her first poetry collection, In the Constellation of the Hibiscus, published by Vergina Editions, was awarded the Book of the Year in 2019 by the Xasteron Group and the Greek Cultural Association of Cypriots (E.P.O.K.). Critiques of her poetry have been written by the late Michalis Stafylas (novelist, publisher of the magazine Spiritual Life), Kostas Karousos (president of the Hellenic Authors' Society), Kaiti Leivada (publisher of the magazine Nea Ariadne), Yiannis Nikolopoulos (poet, publisher of the literary newspaper Noumas), Laskaris Zararis (poet, author, member of the Hellenic Authors' Society), and other esteemed literary figures. Her publications, in addition to magazines, can be found on her Facebook page, her blog "Logismon Araxovoli," and the art and culture blog koukidaki.gr, where she is a regular contributor. She is a member of the Xasteron Group, the Greek Cultural Association of Cypriots, the Linos Association of Music, Literature, Art, and Philosophy, the artistic association Eleusis and Hydrani, and the visual arts association mta – art. As a healthcare professional for twenty years, her work has a human-centered approach, aiming to maintain health and happiness in people. She believes that talents are gifts that should be utilized and returned where needed. For this reason, the proceeds from her literary and artistic activities are donated to charitable foundations and causes. The proceeds from the sales of her first poetry collection were donated to Alma Zois for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.