The Independent Remembers Judith Kazantzis (1940–2018)

British poet Judith Kazantzis has died at the age of 78, writes The Independent's Christine Manby. Kazantzis, one of the last debutantes in British society, spent her adult life advocating for social justice "on an international scale" and,  "[i]nfluenced by Sylvia Plath, [her] poetry threw light on the power dynamics of relationships in the domestic and social spheres." More about Kazantzis from there: 

Kazantzis also turned to the classics for inspiration, notably reworking the stories of Clytemnestra and Odysseus (in 2002 she translated In Cyclops’ Cave: The Odyssey, Book IX).

Kazantzis frequently used her poems to highlight injustice on an international scale. In 1986 she published A Poem For Guatemala, declaiming US involvement in the genocide of the Mayan Indians. In Just After Midnight, published in 2004, she wrote about the West Bank and Tiananmen Square. Her powerful verses brought her literary acclaim. In 2006, she was the recipient of the Society of Authors’ Cholmondeley Award.

Like her father, Kazantzis threw herself behind many social causes. She was a supporter of the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament, joining the protest at the Greenham Common air base. Her contemporary poem Hiroshima Day expressed her disgust at the UK’s policy of nuclear deterrence.

During the 1990s, she worked for Kalayaan, a charity supporting migrant domestic workers. She was one of the founders of British Writers in Support of Palestine. She later chaired the judging panel of the Longford Prize for prison reform.

Also like her father, Kazantzis was a staunch Labour supporter. Upon graduating, she worked for the Chelsea Labour Party. However, she became increasingly disillusioned with the party under Tony Blair and eventually resigned her membership in 1991.

Learn more at The Independent.