What is Vassilis Alexakis?
[[File:Vassilis Alexakis redux.jpg|thumb|Vassilis Alexakis]] '''Vassilis Alexakis''' ({{lang-el|Βασίλης Αλεξάκης}}) (25 December 1943 &ndash; 11 January 2021) was a [[Greece|Greek]]-[[France|French]] writer and [[self-translation|self-translator]]. He translated many novels in [[Modern Greek|Greek]] to [[French language|French]]. Alexakis was born in [[Athens]], [[Greece]]. In 1974 he published his first book ''Le Sandwich'', written in French. The first book directly written in Greek was ''Talgo'', published in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oike.com/lmda/din2/n_par.php?%20Idpa=MAT01435|title=Kantcheff, Christophe (1995): Vassilis Alexakis. Croquis d'un Grec. In: ''Le Matricule des anges'' 14.|access-date=3 August 2011|archive-date=28 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328112208/http://www.oike.com/lmda/din2/n_par.php?%20Idpa=MAT01435|url-status=dead}}</ref> He self-translated ''Talgo'' into French.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WEP3fneAhtsC&q=Vassilis%20Alexakis%3A%20Exorciser%20L'exil.&pg=PA2|title=Bessy, Marianne (2011): ''Vassilis Alexakis: Exorciser L'exil''. Rodopi.|isbn=978-9042033122|access-date=3 August 2011|last1=Bessy|first1=Marianne|date=March 2011}}</ref> In 2006, ''Les mots étrangers'' was translated by Alyson Waters and published under the title ''[[Foreign Words]]''; this was the first of his novels to be translated into English. In 1995, he received the prestigious [[Prix Médicis]] for ''La langue maternelle''. In 2007, he received the [[Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.france-info.com/culture-livres-2007-10-25-vassilis-alexakis-recoit-le-grand-prix-du-roman-de-l-academie-28462-36-39.html|title=France Info (2007): Vassilis Alexakis reçoit le grand prix du roman de l'académie|access-date=3 August 2011}}</ref> Alexakis died on 11 January 2021, aged 77.<ref>[https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Vassilis-Alexakis-le-plus-francais-des-ecrivains-grecs-est-mort Littérature : disparition de Vassilis Alexaki