Cypriot literature covers literature from Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 found mainly in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, and/or other languages, including French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

. The modern Cypriot Greek

Cypriot Greek

The Cypriot dialect of Modern Greek, known as Kypriaka , Cypriot Greek is spoken by 750,000 people in Cyprus and diaspora Greek Cypriots.Cypriot Greek is distinct enough that it can be classified as a distinct dialect of the Standard Greek....

 dialect belongs to the Southeastern group of Modern Greek dialects.

Ancient / Medieval

Literary production from antiquity includes the Cypria, an epic poem

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

, probably composed in the late 7th century BC and attributed to Stasinus

Stasinus

According to some ancient authorities, Stasinus of Cyprus, a semi-legendary early Greek poet, was the author of the Cypria, in eleven books, one of the poems belonging to the Epic Cycle that narrated the War of Troy...

. The Cypriot Zeno of Citium

Zeno of Citium

Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher from Citium . Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in...

 was the founder of the Stoic School of Philosophy

Stoicism

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...

, followed by his friend and disciple Persaeus

Persaeus

Persaeus , of Citium, son of Demetrius, was a Stoic philosopher, and a friend and favourite student of Zeno of Citium.He lived in the same house as Zeno...

.

Cyprus also figures in early Christian literature such as the Acts of the Apostles

Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

 according to which the Apostles Barnabas

Barnabas

Barnabas , born Joseph, was an Early Christian, one of the earliest Christian disciples in Jerusalem. In terms of culture and background, he was a Hellenised Jew, specifically a Levite. Named an apostle in , he and Saint Paul undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts...

 and Paul preached on the island. Byzantine/medieval Cypriot writers include Leontios of Neapolis

Leontios of Neapolis

Leontios was Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus in the 7th century AD.Works: Life of St. John the Merciful, commissioned by the archbishop of Constantia Arcadius, Life of Simeon the Holy Fool, a lost "Life of Spyridon" and an apologia against Jews...

, Altheides

Altheides

Altheides was a Cypriot philosopher, primarily known from sayings attributed to him in the works of others. Little is known about the wandering philosopher known as Altheides of Cyprus, and little of his work remains available to modern scholars. His parents were Greek merchants living on the...

 and Patriarch Gregory II of Constantinople

Patriarch Gregory II of Constantinople

Gregory II of Cyprus was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople between 1283-1289.His name was originally George. His parents were middle class but of noble origin. He moved to Nicosia as a teenager seeking further education...

. Byzantine Epic poetry

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

, notably the "acritic songs", flourished during the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

.

Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance

The legislation of the Kingdom of Cyprus

Kingdom of Cyprus

The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...

 in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, known as the Assizes of Jerusalem

Assizes of Jerusalem

The Assizes of Jerusalem are a collection of numerous medieval legal treatises containing the law of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and Kingdom of Cyprus...

, was written in the local dialect of the time, as well as in French. The Assizes were translated into Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 by 1531 and remain the largest collection of surviving medieval laws.

As far as historiography

Historiography

Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

 is concerned, the most important medieval works are the chronicles of Leontios Makhairas

Leontios Makhairas

Leontios Machairas or Makhairas was a medieval Cypriot historian.The main source of information on him is his chronicle, written in the medieval Cypriot dialect. The chronicle documents events from the visit of Saint Helena to Cyprus until the times of the Kingdom of Cyprus...

 and George Boustronios, covering the period under Frankish rule (1191-1489), written in the local dialect with many French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 influences.

A great collection of sonnets in the manner of Francesco Petrarca and of Poèmes d'amour written in medieval Greek Cypriot date back from the 16th century, when Cyprus was a possession of the Republic of Venice

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

. Some of them are actual translations of poems written by Petrarch

Petrarch

Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...

, Bembo

Bembo

Bembo is the name given to a 20th-century revival of an old style serif or humanist typeface cut by Francesco Griffo around 1495.The typeface Bembo seen today is a revival designed under the direction of Stanley Morison for the Monotype Corporation in 1929.It is considered a good choice for...

, Ariosto and Sannazzaro.
The majority of the play Othello

Othello

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 is set on Venetian Cyprus.

Modern

Modern literary figures from Cyprus include the poet and writer Kostas Montis, poet Kyriakos Charalambides

Kyriakos Charalambides

Kyriakos Charalambides is one of the most known and acknowledged Greek poets and writers. His work sings in the odea of Western culture, yet is most at home upon the stage of Greek civilization. He specifically speaks in the tradition of modern Greek poets Constantine P...

, novelist Panos Ioannides, poet Michalis Pasiardis, writer Nicos Nicolaides

Nicos Nicolaides

Nicos Nicolaides was a Greek painter and writer.-Early life:Nicolaides born the son of poor parents in Nicosia, Cyprus on the April 3, 1884. A sister, Maria, followed him two years later. He was only six or seven when their parents died, one after another. Their maternal aunt took charge of the...

, Stylianos Atteshlis

Stylianos Atteshlis

Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis was a Christian mystic and healer who was born on December 12, 1912 in Cyprus where he spent most of his life. He was a mystic from Strovolos, Cyprus. Educated in Cyprus and abroad, he pursued a career in the Cyprus Government Printing office; but he also spent some years...

, Loukis Akritas and Demetris Th. Gotsis. Dimitris Lipertis

Dimitris Lipertis

Dimitris Theophani Lipertis is a Cypriot born Greek poet and is considered as one of the most prominent poets of the island.-Biography:...

, Vasilis Michaelides

Vasilis Michaelides

Vasilis Michaelides is considered by many and often referred to as the national poet of Cyprus.He was born in Lefkoniko, a village in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, between 1849 and 1853. In 1862 he moved to Nicosia to attend Secondary School. His first contact with the arts came in the form of...

 and Pavlos Liasides are folk poets who wrote poems mainly in the Cypriot-Greek

Cypriot Greek

The Cypriot dialect of Modern Greek, known as Kypriaka , Cypriot Greek is spoken by 750,000 people in Cyprus and diaspora Greek Cypriots.Cypriot Greek is distinct enough that it can be classified as a distinct dialect of the Standard Greek....

 dialect. The local dialect has been traditionally used for folk songs and poetry, including τσιαττιστά (battle poetry, a form of Playing the dozens) and the tradition of ποιητάρηες (bards).

Neşe Yaşın

Nese Yasin

Neşe Yaşın, pronounced Neshe Yashun is a well known Cypriot Turkish poet and author.-Biography:Yaşın was born in 1959 to Turkish Cypriot parents...

 is a well known Cypriot Turkish poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, who mainly writes in Turkish although a considerable number of her works of prose have been translated into Greek and English. In 2002 her novel Secret History of Sad Girls was banned in the TRNC and Turkey and she received multiple threats from Turkish nationalists.. Sevgül Uludağ is an investigative reporter who besides being instrumental in uncovering information on thousands of missing Cypriots she has also authored a number of books . Urkiye Mine Balman

Urkiye Mine Balman

Urkiye Mine Balman in Lefke is a author and poet who graduated from the Cyprus Turkish Teachers' Training College in 1946 and worked as a teacher in Cyprus....

 has written in a wide variety genres, but her works are mostly romantic poems describing sometimes a lonesome village girl or country life and long-distance romances. Balman has published her works in Yesilada, Türk Dili, and Türk'e Dogru literary magazines in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

Other

Cyprus has also been a place of inspiration and literary production for non-native authors during the 20th century.

Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence George Durrell was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer, though he resisted affiliation with Britain and preferred to be considered cosmopolitan...

 lived in Cyprus from 1952 until 26 August 1956 and wrote the book Bitter Lemons

Bitter Lemons

Bitter Lemons is an autobiographical work by writer Lawrence Durrell, describing the three years he spent on the island of Cyprus...

 concerning his time there, which earned him the second Duff Cooper Prize

Duff Cooper Prize

The Duff Cooper Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of history, biography, political science or poetry, published in English or French. The prize was established in honour of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat, Cabinet member and acclaimed author. The prize was first awarded...

 in 1957.

Nobel

Nobel Prize in Literature

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...

 laureat Giorgos Seferis

Giorgos Seferis

Giorgos or George Seferis was the pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs . He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate...

was heavily influenced by Cyprus. He wrote one of his most famous works (Log Book III - initially entitled Cyprus, where it was ordained for me…) while working for the Greek diplomatic mission on the island.