Theo Votsos

Theo Votsos, born in Stuttgart in 1966 as son of Greek migrant workers, works as a freelance translator of Greek and German literature. He also works as a film and literature editor for various print and online media. He studied political science, sociology and philosophy in Konstanz and Tübingen. In 2001 his comprehensive study on Antonio Gramsci's concept of civil society was published by Argument Verlag. His published translations include the works of numerous classical and contemporary Greek authors, e.g. by Jannis Ritsos, M. Karagatsis, Stratis Myrivilis, Alexis Panselinos, Vassilis Papas, Helene Varopoulou, Agoritsa Bakodimou, Lila Konomara, Christos Chryssopoulos and others, on the one hand, Robert Walser, Jeremias Gotthelf, Gottfried Keller, Adolf Muschg, Paulus Hochgatterer, Eugen Ruge, Nelle Neuhaus, Timur Vermes, Lucy Fricke, Dilek Güngör, Letta Semadeni and others. on the other hand. His is living between Cologne, Germany, and Thessaloniki, Greece. In Cologne, between 2001-2017, he has been involved in various projects in the free cultural scene, e.g. worked as a program officer for the Cologne Mediterranean Film Festival and as managing director of the intercultural theater and cultural center "Bühne der Kulturen". Since 2008 he has been working exclusively as a freelance literary translator and culture editor and in this capacity regularly enjoys working stays of several weeks in writers' and translators' houses in various European countries. His translations of Robert Walser’s The Walk and Jeremias Gotthelfs The Black Spider into Greek (published 2011) were nominated (short list) for the Greek State Literature Prize in the category translation. In 2017, in recognition for his whole translation work, he received a grant for a five-months-recidency in the renowned International Artist’s House Villa Concordia in Bamberg.