Early life

Son of Anastase and Maria, Leonardos was born in Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 on 20 February 1937. His father died when he was two years old and he lived with his mother in Alexandria until 1954. He was an avid reader of fiction and history, and as a high school student in Alexandria had his short stories published in Tahidromos and Anatoli

Anatoli

Anatoli is a town and a former municipality in the Ioannina peripheral unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ioannina, of which it is a municipal unit. The population was 7,198...

, the Greek daily newspapers of the city. In 1954 he moved to Greece to study Physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest Greek university, and the largest university in the Balkans. It was named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, Chalcidice, about 55 km east of Thessaloniki, in Central Macedonia...

.

Career

After his graduation, he studied journalism and began to work as a journalist. He worked as a reporter for Athens newspapers Apogevmatini

Apogevmatini

Apogevmatini was a Greek newspaper that was published nationally for decades until its owners latest declared its bankruptcy in November 2010. Its location is 12 Feidiou Street in the downtown area of the capital city of Athens. The newspaper was founded by the Botsis family in the beginning of...

, Eleftherotypia

Eleftherotypia

Eleftherotypia is a daily newspaper published in Athens . It is one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the country. Eleftherotypia also publishes a Sunday edition Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia . It was first published in 1975. Breaking the trend of Greek press, it was originally owned by its...

, Mesimvrini, Eleftheros Typos

Eleftheros Typos

Eleftheros Typos was a daily newspaper published in Athens, founded in 1983 by the Lilian Voudouri press foundation. Eminent in liberal and conservative circles, it vied for the top sales spot in the eighties, but today trails its left-of-center competitors by a margin, though still retaining its...

, Ethnos

Ethnos

Ethnos may refer to:*Ethnic group*Ethnos...

 and as a columnist in the financial paper Kerdos. He was the first correspondent of the Athens News Agency

Athens News Agency

The Athens News Agency was one of the two major news agencies in Greece, the other being the Macedonian Press Agency, before they merged together into the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency .-History:...

 in Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 in 1964, and later in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1976, where he was also appointed director of the local Greek newspaper Ethnicos Kirikas. He has also worked as a newscaster in Greek Radio and Television, and has reported on the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 and the Persian Gulf war.

Leonardos is a member of the Athens Association of Daily Press Editors and the National Society of Greek Writers. His first novel, Grandma’s Red Sofa, was published in 1992. He was twice awarded the prize for best historical novel by the Greek Society of Christian Studies for his novels Mara, the Christian Sultana and Sleeping Beauty of Mystra

Mystra

Mystra is either* Mystras, an archaeological site and Byzantine city in the Peloponnese in modern Greece* or Mystra , a deity in the fictional Forgotten Realms universe....

. He was awarded a Botsis

Botsis

The Botsis family controlled major stakes in the Greek press during the 20th century, including the newspapers Apogevmatini and Akropolis.- External links :* *...

 Foundation prize for his services to journalism and literature.

In 2008 he was awarded with the Greek State Prize for his historical trilogy The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium

The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium

The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium is a trilogy novel describing the last dynasty of Byzantium, written by Greek author George Leonardos. For this trilogy the author was awarded with the highest State Literature Award 2008. The trilogy is wrapped up with the historical novel...

 and specially for the third historical novel of the mentioned trilogy "The Last Palaeologue".http://www.yppo.gr/2/g22.jsp?obj_id=26470

In 1980 he published the English-Greek Dictionary of Scientific and Military Terms, and in 2000 he published The Structure of the Novel. His latest historical novel is Sophia Paleologue

Sophia Paleologue

Zoe Palaiologina , later changed her name to Sophia Palaiologina , Grand Duchess of Moscow, was a niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI and second wife of Ivan III of Russia. She was also the grandmother of Ivan the Terrible.- Biography :...

 Palaelogina - From Byzantium to Russia.

Novels

• Grandmam's red sofa, 1992
• The house over the catacombs, 1993
• Eva, 1994
• The magnet poles, 1995
• Earth's lovers, 1996
• A song from the soul, 1997

Historical Novels

• Barbarossa the Pirate, 1998
• Mara, the Christian Sultana, 1999
• Maria Magdalene, 2001
• Sleeping Beauty of Mystra, 2002
• Michael VIII Palaeologue, 2004
• The Palaeologues, 2006
• The last Palaeologue, 2007.
• Sophia Paleologue - From Byzantium to Russia, 2008
• Magellan,2009
• Thule 2010
• The Alexandria Rhapsody 2011

External links

• George Leonardos' official website