Anthoula Stathopoulou-Vafopoulou
Anthoula Stathopoulou-Vafopoulou (; 1908 – April 16, 1935) was a Greek poet and playwright of the interwar period.

 Biography 
Anthoula Stathopoulou was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1908. In her youth she attended the city's High School for Girls and its French School. In 1924, at only 15 years old, she met the poet Georgios Vafopoulos, then in his early 20s. The two would marry later, in 1931, when they were 22 and 28. It was then that she took on the surname Stathopoulou-Vafopoulou.

Stathopoulou-Vafopoulou worked for a short period at the Thessaloniki City Hall, then became interested in the theater and attended the School of Dramatic Arts at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki.

She began writing poetry and plays, which she published in literary magazines in Thessaloniki (such as Makedonikes Imeres) and Athens (such as Nea Estia). Her plays were performed at the School of Dramatic arts, under the direction of . In 1932, she published her first and only book of poems, titled Sleepless Nights (). 

In 1935, Stathopoulou-Vafopoulou died of tuberculosis, like her poetic contemporaries Maria Polydouri and , at only 26 years old. She spent her final months at the sanatorium in Asvestochori.

Shortly after her death, the poet  published a review of her book of poetry in Nea Estia. Her husband collected her writings the following year in a volume titled Works (), with a prologue by Gregorios Xenopoulos. It was reviewed in Nea Estia by .

In the 1940s, the songwriter Vassilis Tsitsanis honored her by borrowing from her writing in one of his pieces. A play based on her life and death was produced in Greece in 2024.

 Works 
alt=A page with the Greek title of Anthoula Stathopoulou-Vafopoulou's book "Sleepless Nights," and an illustration of an ouroboros |left|thumb|The title page of Sleepless Nights

 Poetry 

 Sleepless Nights [Νύχτες αγρύπνιας] (1932)

In its 55 poems, this collection radiates sensitivity, the sensation of sleeping awake and the poet's romantic sorrow. In its lyricism, using rhetorical questions and similes, the work conveys a great emotional weight to the reader.

Some scholars have characterized her writing as "post-symbolic."

 Complete works 

 Works [Έργα· Ποιήματα – Διηγήματα - Δράματα] (1936)

 References 

Category:1908 births
Category:1935 deaths
Category:People from Thessaloniki
Category:Greek women poets
Category:Greek women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Greece
Category:Modern Greek-language writers