Odysseas Ioannou

Odysseas Ioannou was born in Athens in 1967. His professional writing appeared in newspapers and magazines from 1986, while radio became another lasting setting for his relationship with Greek song. He began broadcasting in 1989 and worked at 902 and Melodia 99.2. From 2000 to 2010 he was Melodia’s director, combining the selection of music with the spoken words that introduce it.

He began writing song lyrics in 1992. In a later interview he recalled that composer Dionysis Tsaknis invited him to provide words for a song for Voula Savvidi. Collaborations with composers and performers subsequently included Thanos Mikroutsikos, Sokratis Malamas and Haris Alexiou. Alongside recording projects, he developed prose and musical theatre rather than following only one form of writing.

His first book, Ζει το κορίτσι του fruit punch; (Is the Fruit Punch Girl Alive?), appeared in 1999. From 2012 he led a lyric-writing workshop at Chalkidonio Conservatory, and in 2019 he began broadcasts at Athens 9.84. In a September 2026 interview he described the importance of ordinary words, communication and the relationship between sound and silence, drawing on his long experience of radio.

Ioannou moves between several kinds of short writing. Ζει το κορίτσι του fruit punch; (Is the Fruit Punch Girl Alive?, 1999) contains ten stories about ordinary people in unusual situations. Κέρματα (Coins, 2004) gathers journalistic prose. Ο Θάνος κι ο Μικρούτσικος (Thanos and Mikroutsikos, 2011) builds the composer’s autobiographical account through twenty-four meetings: the speaking life belongs to Mikroutsikos, while Ioannou shapes the encounter into a book.

Το νερό να γίνεις (Become Water, 2015) continues his prose writing. The publisher presents a passage organised through repeated να openings, expressing intentions through concrete actions: reading, listening to records or caring for flowers. The sequence draws energy from returning to a small grammatical frame while changing the action. It offers a useful starting point for thinking about the sound and economy of a sentence.

He wrote the texts for 9:05 (2014), directed by Pantelis Voulgaris, and Κοινή ησυχία (Quiet Hours, 2020), directed by Eleni Rantou. These musical-theatre works bring his narrative voice into live performance alongside songs. In his 2026 interview, he distinguished writing words for songs from writing poetry and described how radio taught him to value ordinary vocabulary and silence.

Ioannou’s work invites attention to words intended for another person’s ear. His radio experience and his prose in Το νερό να γίνεις make concise expression a practical subject for Greek learners. Read the adapted B1 passage and compare Γράφω κάθε μέρα. with Θέλω να γράψω ένα σύντομο μήνυμα. The first describes a habit; the second gives an intention for a particular message. Write your own intention beginning θέλω να, identify the listener and remove one unnecessary word. Read it aloud, pause and check whether the meaning remains clear. The book’s original prose offers further reading with support; the exercise sentences are independent learner examples.

• Born in Athens in 1967; lyricist, prose writer and radio broadcaster.
• Directed Melodia 99.2 from 2000 to 2010; began a lyric-writing workshop in 2012.
• Ο Θάνος κι ο Μικρούτσικος (Thanos and Mikroutsikos) first appeared in 2011; its 24 meetings recount the composer’s life.