Greek author and translator, whose best-known work in English is the novel Zorba the Greek.

He was born in Candia (now Iráklion), Crete, and educated at the University of Athens, where he received his law degree. After graduating he went to France, where he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson. In the 1930s he traveled in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and he wrote many books in which he combined travel description with personal and philosophic commentary. Zorba the Greek (1943; translated 1952), which was made into a successful motion picture, tells the story of an aging Greek miner with an unconquerable zest for life. Also well-known in English is his novel  The Greek Passion (1948; translated 1954), about the reenactment of a passion play in a Greek village. 
He published several books on religious-philosophical themes, including  The Last Temptation of Christ (1951; trans. 1960), which was made into a movie released in 1988, and The Poor Man of God (1953; trans. Saint Francis, 1962). He translated the works of Dante and Goethe and several ancient Greek classics into the modern Greek language, of which he was one of the great masters. He also wrote philosophical essays, tragedies, and lyric and epic poetry, including The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938; trans. 1958), a continuation of the Homeric epic.