oty
Petrovits-Andrutsopulou
was born in Athens, on 12 August 1937. She has studied music,
foreign languages and literature. While
working for bread winning (1958-1984) with the International Organization for Migration (http://greece.iom.int/en/iom-mission and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hCBz4Xt0JI), she made her debut in children's
literature in 1973. Up to now she has written 73 books, including 65 for young people, ranging from tales of
fantasy to novels on contemporary issues, three books for
adults and five about children's literature. Also she has
illustrated several books with collages (the decoration of
this site has been based on one of her illustrations).
Her daily contact for many years with social problems, uprooted
or homeless people, war victims, and especially children in
need, as well as her own tragic experiences as a child during
World War II became a well of inspiration for many of her
books. Actually, empathy for those suffering, profound humanity,
international understanding, care for children throughout
the world, are elements that can easily be traced in the whole
body of her work, even in those books of hers where humour
prevails.
In 1975, her acquaintance with IBBY's achievements (http://www.ibby.org)
and Jella Lepman's dream for a book-bridge building impressed
her deeply and decisively. She immediately joined the Greek
Section (http://www.greekibby.gr #Greekibby)
and devoted herself to its scope for more than 30 years, first as a simple member,
then as a member of the Section's Administrative Board, as Secretary General and as President (from 2000 to 2008).In May 2009 she was nominated Honorary President of IBBY Greece, by its General Assembly. Loty
Petrovits's work was soon and broadly recognized in her country.
She has been awarded seven honorary plaques, three honorary diplomas and fourteen national awards including the
1984 Academy of Athens Award, the highest literary award for a children's
writer in Greece, as well as the 1999 and 2009 State Prize for
children's literature. In 1989, her book Spiti yia Pende
(A House for Five) was included in the Honor List of PIER
PAOLO VERGERIO European Prize for children's literature of
the University of Padova. Her novel Lathos, Kyrie Neuger!
(Wrong, Mr. Neuger!) was included in the 1992 IBBY Honor
List.She has been nominated twice as the Greek candidate for the Hans Christian Andersen Author's Award 1994 and 2010. She has been nominated candidate for The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) #astridlindgrenaward 2015, by a foreign nominator, and 2020, 2021,2022 by the Greek Section of IBBY #Greekibby .
Loty Petrovits receives hundreds of letters and emails from her young readers, and she is welcomed with real enthusiasm when invited to schools all over the country or other meet-the-author events.
Her books have been published in numerous editions and have sold more than 1.000.000 copies, a high number in a country of 10 million people, of whom children up to 14 are approximately 2 million.
Works of
Loty Petrovits are featured in anthologies and text books,
have been broadcast and serialized for the TV in Greece and
Cyprus. Stories of hers have appeared in various children's
magazines in Greece and other countries.: Some of her books have been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Arabic. A story of hers
appeared in Cricket, the magazine for children translated
into English. An English translation of some more stories
of hers appeared in the magazine Helios, and some
others, translated into Albanian, appeared in the children's
magazine The little mermaid in Tirana. On the other
hand, she has translated several books into Greek.
Loty Petrovits has published
five books about children's literature and many articles in
Greek and foreign journals (in English, Spanish, Russian,
Italian and Hebrew). She is co-founder and co-editor of the
Greek quarterly Diadromes about children's literature,
and was associate editor for Greece of IBBY's magazine Bookbird,
from 1982 to 2004. From 1981 to 1988 she was editorial correspondent
of Phaedrus International Annual of Children's Literature
Research. From 1979 to 1981 she was co-editor of Helidonia,
a children's magazine published by the Ministry of Education. As
a leading personality of children's literature in her country,
Loty Petrovits has represented Greece in many national and
international conferences on books for children, including
IBBY Congresses from 1976 to 2002.
In September 1998 she was elected member of the IBBY Executive
Committee 1998-2000, and was re-elected for two more years
in September 2000. She was also elected President of the Jury
for the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award 2002, 2003. In 2014, the E.C. of IBBY conferred on her Honorary Membership in gratitude and in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of IBBY.
Loty Petrovits is also member of various other cultural societies,
such as the Women's Literary Association, the National Society of
Greek Authors, the Greek Society of Translators, etc. She
lives in Athens, Greece, with her husband. They have a
daughter (http://www.androutsopoulou.gr), a son (http://www.aueb.gr/users/ion/) and a granddaughter.