The library was transferred to the Foundation in 2018 through the generous donation of his sons, Loukas and Thanos Roufos. It is estimated to contain approximately 3,500 items, primarily focusing on Greek and foreign literature and history, with a notable number of works in French and Italian.
The library of author Rodis Roufos
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Biography
Rodis Roufos-Kanakaris (1924-1972) was a diplomat, writer, and translator. Born in Athens, he came from a family of politicians from Patras. He studied law at the University of Athens and entered the Diplomatic Corps in 1949. He maintained a close relationship with fellow diplomat Giorgos Seferis. He participated in the Resistance alongside Napoleon Zervas, and in 1956, he supported the EOKA struggle for the union of Cyprus with Greece. Following the imposition of the dictatorship, he went into self-imposed exile for a few months; in 1969, he was dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs without pension rights and became involved in anti-dictatorial activities. He emerged in Greek prose literature in the 1950s with the trilogy The Chronicle of a Crusade, which addresses the Resistance from the perspective of the middle-class faction. For his literary work, he was awarded the Kostas Ouranis Prize (1955) and the State Novel Prize (1956). After his death, the Rodis Roufos-Kanakaris Scholarship Foundation was established in accordance with his wish to support studies related to the protection of human rights.