Kostas Faltaits

Born in Smyrna on February 23, 1891, and raised in Skyros, he studied law and philology in Athens but turned early to journalism instead of practicing as a lawyer. He went on to build a wide-ranging career in newspapers and magazines, becoming especially known for his reporting during the Balkan Wars and the Asia Minor campaign.

Alongside journalism, he wrote literature and pursued folklore research with unusual energy. He studied the lives and traditions of groups such as Roma communities, nomadic populations, and people from Epirus, and he also gathered early material on rebetiko culture and the world around it. That mix of reporting, literary writing, and fieldwork makes him a distinctive figure in modern Greek letters.

He lived between Athens and Skyros for much of his life and died in Skyros on October 23, 1944. Today he is remembered not only as a writer and correspondent, but also as an early documentarian of social history and local culture in Greece.