Leonidas Malenis died: Mikis Theodorakis had set his poem “Golden Green Leaf” to music

The writer and journalist Leonidas Malenis from Nicosia passed away at the age of 85. His poems such as “Golden Leaf” were set to music by Miki Theodorakis. His poems were also set to music by George Kotsonis, George Theofanous and other Cypriot composers

After studying Public Relations in the USA, he returned to Cyprus and entered the journalistic profession. He initially worked at the Ethnos newspaper. Between 1957 and 1961 he worked as an editor and editor-in-chief at the Times of Cyprus magazine. In 1961 he was hired as an assistant educational officer in the press office of the US embassy in Nicosia.

In 1962 he went to the United States where he attended special courses and then returned to Cyprus where he continued his work at the American embassy, at the American Center in Nicosia (cultural institution of the embassy). Between 1969 and 1971 he worked as director of a motion picture import company.

From 1960 began a long and diverse collaboration with the Cyprus Radio Foundationas a presenter of programs (radio and television), as an actor in radio shows, as a screenwriter, lyricist, translator of plays, etc. This collaboration lasted until 1998, when Leonidas Malenis began cooperation with television and radio of the private station ANT1 reports the sigmalive.

Leonidas Malenis published the collection Five Short Stories (with illustrations by himself) in 1958. In 1962, together with Panos Ioannidis, he published the book CyprusHighlights (shortstories, poems, essays, drama, art).