Effie Vafeiadi taught History of Modern Greek Theater, History of World Theater and Dramaturgy at the School of Drama at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, from the second year of its operation, initially as an adjunct professor (1993-1997) and then as an assistant professor and eventually as an associate professor (1998-2011), until her retirement. During this time, she was either the main advisor or a committee member of a significant number of doctoral theses.
She earned a BA from the School of French Language and Literature (former French Department of the Institute of Foreign Languages and Philologies of the Faculty of Philosophy at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) (1972-1976) and studied Modern Greek Literature at Paris IV-Sorbonne, from which she earned the “Diplôme d’Études Approfondies” (1982-1983). Her PhD was awarded the grade “Excellent”, by the School of Philology (Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) in 1994.
Before the creation of the School of Drama at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, she had taught as a teaching fellow at the French Department of the Institute of Foreign Languages and Philologies (Faculty of Philosophy) (1976-1982) and in the Department of Medieval and Modern Greek Studies (1982-1992) both at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She also taught History of Theater and Dramatology courses for several years (1984-1986 and 1990-1995) at the Drama School of the National Theater of Northern Greece.
She was the literary editor of the publication: Pantelis Horn, Ta Theatrika (The Plays), volumes 1-5, Goulandris-Horn Foundation, 1994-1999. The five volumes include all of Pantelis Horn’s surviving plays (mostly in the form of manuscripts) previously unpublished, as well as a selection of articles and vignettes. In the last volume of this publication, Pantelis Horn’s unpublished translation of Fernand Crommelynck’s work Un cocu magnifique (A magnificent cuckold) is also published for the first time. Her book Ανεμομαζώματα. Σκόρπιες σελίδες ημερολογίου (Gathered by the Wind. Scattered journal pages), Thessaloniki, 2004, which comprises of Pantelis Horn’s autobiographical texts published in the magazine Bouketo (1931-1932) could be considered an annex to this publication.
Her research interests revolved around Modern Greek Theater (Pantelis Horn, Grigorios Xenopoulos, Dimitris Horn, the Jew in the Greek dramaturgy) and around the reception of the Theater of the Absurd in Greece (she published the first relevant bibliographies and the first assessment of the reception of Pinter). She participated in several conferences in Athens, Thessaloniki, Granada and Istanbul. Her work has been published in conference volumes and tribute volumes.
After her retirement, having voluntarily given up scientific research, she has happily attended workshops on theater practice and was lucky enough to be taught by important teachers, such as Nikos Armaos, Dimitris Kataleifos, Stathis Livathinos and Dimitris Piatas. She is an avid theatergoer. Nowadays, she’s striving to fill the gaps in her knowledge of Greek and World Literature.
Effie Vafeiadi was born in January of 1948 in Thessaloniki where she still lives, although for thirty years she has, in a way, divided her life between Thessaloniki and Athens – because of the Theater. She is the mother of two wonderful adults.
