Cavafy Born April 17th

Constantin Cavafy was born April 17th, 1863 in Alexandria, Egypt. Born to a well to do Greek family from Constantinople, Turkey. At the time Alexandria was an important city with upscale cafes whose patrons'fortunes were connected with  the stock exchange or busy port, which in turn required blue collar laborers who lived in poverty. Cavafy's family financial status changed after the death of his father, and Cavafy worked several jobs before becoming employed with the Irrigation Service of the Public Works Ministry for the next three decades.

Cavafy might well have remained unknown if he'd not begun writing poetry with historical or homoerotic themes, sometimes combining the two. Thanks to a fortuituous incident, British author E M Forster met Cavafy in Alexandria and became friends. Forster would help to arrange publication of Cavafy's poems in English. Cavafy's French translator, Marguerite Yourcenar said that "Cavafy's poems are like Near Eastern cafes - you never see a woman in them."

Read more about Cavafy at Circa Club, Gay.net and GLBTQ.