Nikos Mandis

Νikos A. Mandis is a Greek writer whose work often contains elements of the supernatural, with social and political undertones. Set in a dystopian vision of the late 21st century, his most recent novel Impossible Cities: Chronicles of a Simulation portrays Europe as a vast theme park whose residents prefer to deny contemporary reality and live as citizens/exhibits within faithful reconstructions of past historical eras, aided by artificial intelligence. Even human consciousness, the last refuge of individuality, has become a commodity and the main characters fight to retain their humanity, as they constantly shift between cities and identities. Born in 1973, Mandis grew up in Athens and studied law in Greece and the UK. He made his first appearance on the literary scene with a short story collection in 2006, and since then, he has written seven novels, as well as articles and short stories that have been published in newspapers and magazines in Greece and abroad. His work has received wide acclaim in Greece, winning prizes from major literary institutions and popular literature magazines. He has also published Greek translations by writers such as Somerset Maugham, Paul Bowles, André Aciman, Ali Smith and Paul Beatty. Under his real name, Nikos Lambropoulos, he has written poetry and plays.