Maria Laina was born in Patras (Greece) in 1947. She holds a degree from the Athens Law School. She has worked in editing and advertising, and has taught modern Greek language and literature. She has produced and broadcasted literary programs for the radio and written scripts for television. She has published five plays (three of them monologues) and eight collections of poetry.

Maria Laina has received three awards for her work, one of which was the National Literary Prize for Poetry in 1993. A collection of her poetry was translated into German and received the City of Munich award in 1995. Her plays have been staged in central theatres in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities, while her poetry has been translated into most European languages and presented in international poetry festivals – Jerusalem, Berlin, New York, London, Stockholm, Munich, Princeton, Majorca.

She has translated works of Katherine Mansfield, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Edith Wharton, Patricia Highsmith, Charlotte Bronte, Tennessee Williams – among others – and has edited an anthology of 20^th century poets (a selection of Greek translations). 

PLAYS

The Tree, 2013

One… Two …Three…, 2011

I Am Here, 2010

Moonset, 2010

The Meaning, 2009

When the Wolf is not Here, 2005

Family Affair

Food, 1998

A Stolen Kiss,  1996

Reality is Always Present, 1990

The Clown, 1983