About Yannis
Born in 1939, Yannis Andricopoulos (Γιαννης Ανδρικοπουλος) spent the forma- tive years of his life in Athens - years scarred by wars, deprivation and political repression. ‘We managed to survive’, he says, ‘but only on grains of hope’.
With a BA in Politics, in 1964 he joined the Athens daily Avghi and in January 1967 he was sent to ‘swinging London’ as its correspondent. The appointment was, however, short-lived as the Greek dictatorship closed Avghi down in April 1967 and deprived him of his passport. His actions, the colonels claimed, were ‘detrimental to the national interests of Greece’.
While a political exile, he earned a Ph.D. in History from London University. He was also elected as the head of the Greek National Union of Students (EFEE in exile). The latter’s activities caused, among other things, his expulsion from a number of East European countries.
In 1974 he resumed his career as a London-based correspondent first for Avghi and then for Eleftherotypia, another Athens daily. In the same year, he also published his first book, 1944, Κρισιμη Χρονια (1944, A Critical Year), an edited version of prime minister Churchill’s personal papers on 1944 Greece. He has since published three more books on 20th century Greek and European history (Οι Ριζες του Ελληνικου Φασισμου, Το Ευρωπαικο Αδιεξοδο, Η Δημοκρατια του Μεσοπολεμου). As a journalist he has reported from various trouble spots of the world.
In 1979 he co-founded, together with psychotherapist Dina Glouberman, Skyros Holidays, described by The Guardian in 2008 as ‘the first and still the best’ alternative holiday. He still co-directs it. Ten years later, from 1989 to 1995, he also edited i-to-i, an alternative London publication, which attracted contributions from numerous established journalists and authors.
His trilogy - In Bed with Madness, The Greek Inheritance and The Future of the Past - was published by Imprint Academic in both the UK and the US in 2008. Inspired by his involvement in the truculent world of politics and the graceful, personal world of Skyros, the Trilogy takes a critical view of contemporary politics and culture.
History, Politics and Dreams, a critical appraisal of history as experienced by Yannis, was published in London in May 2015, The Lure of Illusions, a political novel developing with the Syrian tragedy as its background, in 2017, and Skyros, Sunshine for the Soul in 2018.