Christos Christovasilis

Christos Christovasilis (; c. 12 March 1861 – 26 August 1937) was a Greek journalist and author, representative of Greek pastoral literature. He was a collector of rural and folk material

Life Christovasilis was born in the village of Soulopoulo, Zitsa, Epirus, then in the Ottoman Empire. As a result, he was twice arrested by the Ottoman authorities and sentenced to death, but he managed to escape. In 1885 he moved to Athens, where he studied, compiled and published several works on Greek history. In December 1889 he won the literary competition of the Athenian newspaper Acropolis, with his countryside tale Pastoral new year. He subsequently decided to devote himself to journalism and literature. When the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) ended and most of Epirus became part of Greece, he moved to Ioannina and published a newspaper named Ελευθερία ("Freedom"). Additionally, in 1936 he published the cultural magazine Epirote Leaves. Christovasilis was twice elected as a member of the Greek Parliament, in 1926 and 1935. He wrote his works in the Demotic (vernacular) language, which he called "koine of the future". His work was inspired by high degree of patriotism aimed against Ottoman rule. Christovassilis best prose is gathered in the Stories of Exile (1889) and in Stories from the Stockyard (1898), a compilation of eleven stories inspired from his rural childhood. Additionally, in 1901 he published the Tales of the Mountain and the Valley, which earned him another literary prize, promulgated by the supporter of the Demotic language, Ioannis Psycharis.