C. P. Cavafy (the initials stand for Constantine Peter) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on April 29, 1863, and died there on the same day of the year in 1933. He lived in England from the age of seven to sixteen, an experience that was to have a significant influence on his development as a poet. After a brief time in Constantinople, he spent the rest of his life working as a part-time civil servant and a full-time poet in Alexandria, whose diverse, rich history and culture exerted a powerful influence on him.

"One of the greatest writers of our times." — The Times Literary Supplement