Which Greek poet and diplomat won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963?

Giorgos Seferis won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963.

Seferis was the pen name of Georgios Seferiadis, a Greek poet and diplomat born in Smyrna, then part of the Ottoman Empire, in 1900. His family became refugees after the Greco-Turkish War and the population exchange that followed, an experience that deeply shaped his poetry.

The Swedish Academy honored his “eminent lyrical writing,” especially its connection to the Greek cultural world. His poetry drew on Homer, classical mythology, Byzantine history and the modern experience of exile, while using restrained, modern language rather than imitating ancient Greek forms.

Seferis also served Greece as a diplomat in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Albania. He is sometimes confused with fellow Greek Nobel laureate Odysseas Elytis, who won in 1979. Seferis was the first Greek recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.