Menis Koumandareas (Athens, 1931–2014) was one of the most renowned Greek writers of the 20th century and a leading exponent of Greek social realism. He was also a translator of authors such as William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, and Herman Melville. During the dictatorship of the Colonels, he participated with seventeen other intellectuals in the publication of a volume against the military junta, but his work was judged obscene due to his opposition to the regime. In 1967 and 1997, he received the Greek State Prize for the Novel.