Lara Bargilly was born on May 16, 1945 in Moscow to a Greek mother and a Russian father. She is the daughter of the distinguished painter-poet Symeon Volchkov, well known and appreciated by the Cypriot public as he showed great love for Cyprus, which was destined to become his second home. He immigrated to the island in 1988, although his ties began to form during his first trip to Cyprus after the wedding of his daughter Larissa (Lara) in 1968. Lara married the late Cypriot architect, then a student of MARCHI in Moscow, and later internationally recognized architect, Marcos Bargilly from Varosia, with whom she had two children, Isabella and Antonis.

Since 1970 Lara has been living in Cyprus. Her Greek roots and her love for her husband have been the grounds on which her adoration for the Greek element, history and language began to take roots, hence also her love for Cyprus. As a philologist of German literature, she taught German in high schools until 2005, when she retired.

Since 1995 she has been productively translating poetry from Russian to Greek and from Greek to Russian and at the same writing poetry herself following in her father’s footsteps. In addition to translating her father’s poems into Greek and acquainting the Cypriot public with this other aspect of Symeon Volchkov’s talent, Lara prepared a poetry anthology with her own translation of poems by the great Russian poet of the "Silver Age" Sergei Yessenin. She also translated Chr. Hadjipanagi’s anthology "The Return of Teucrides" into Russian, contributing a preface with deeper analysis of the poems in context of the history of Cyprus and the Cypriot people’s desire to return to their homes left behind after the Turkish invasion and occupation.

The loss of loved ones and the trials of life determine the mood and philosophical content marking her work, expressing a bittersweet joy for life in both her poems and songs. The music for the latter she creates herself. Most of her aphoristic poems have a philosophical style, very characteristic of Greek poetry, and express deep spirituality from the very beginning, as her first edition "Invitation to the Pantocrator" shows.

In 2003, after the death of her father, with whom she had close spiritual ties, Lara translated and published the commemorative bilingual edition of his poems "Albatross". Since then, she has worked hard, studying and translating all the literary material along with numerous reviews of her father’s work, organizing it on the website www.paintingsofsymeonvolchkov.com. She is director of Symeon Volchkov Arthouse Study Center, which together with the "Symeon Volchkov Gallery" form the "Lara Bargilly Cultural Foundation".

Being one of the few poets so fluent and at ease in both languages, her work can be viewed as representing Russian culture in Cyprus and in Russia the Greek.

1. My published work in books, cd, dvd

The songs that emerged out of the unpublished poetry collection "Stou Orfeas tis chordes" were released on CD, which was distributed in 10,000 copies as a gift with the Cyprus newspaper "Haravgi" on 21/06/2008, on occasion of World Music Day. There is a DVD edition of the same, from the video recording of Communications Sponsor RIK, which however has not been reprinted to date.

1. My first poetry collection "Invitation to the Pantocrator", integrated in the series "Contemporary Cypriot poetry", issue 8, was published with the sponsorship of the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture Publications: IN PRESS, 2007.
2. My latest published poetry collection in Greek, "At the Crossroads of Thoughts", 4th volume, was published in 2015. This anniversary edition, validating 20 years of my creative life, was celebrated on May 23 2016 at the Russian Cultural Center, where the Russian "Rossotrudnichestvo" institution awarded me for my contribution to cultural relations between Russia and Cyprus.
2. My published translation work:
1. Poetry collection "Albatross" by Symeon Voltskov in bilingual version: Russian & Greek, Greece / Asprovalta, 2003
2. Andreas Georgallidis "When the piano sinks" - a 4-language edition of poems, 2010
3. Unpublished books include:

A. My poetic work in bilingual collections in Greek and Russian:

1. "Stou Orfeas tis chordes" volume 1 - poems and songs by Lara Bargilly - bilingual edition, (Greek and Russian version: Lara Bargilly). My songs were released on CD and distributed in 10,000 copies with the newspaper "Haravgi" as an in-paper gift on 21/06/2008, for World Music Day. A DVD edition includes video by Communications Sponsor RIK.
2. 2^nd volume - "In the Light of the Quintessence", bilingual publication of poems, Part I, (Greek and Russian version: Lara Bargilly)
3. 3^rd volume - "In the Light of the Quintessence" – bilingual publication of poems, part II, (Greek and Russian version: Lara Bargilly)

B. My unpublished translation work:

1. "Oh, my happiness, Kastanomata!" - 2^nd volume of poems by Symeon Voltskov in their Greek version, based on the published collection of the same name in Russian: "Кареокое счастье моё" (translation from Russian to Greek)
2. "When the world dies in the air" – The unpublished poems by Lara’s brother Vladimir Voltskov in bilingual edition Russian & Greek, in two Volumes
3. "Three poets, three seasons - one family" - bilingual trilogy, based on the poetic work of Lara, her father and her brother
4. "The pluralism of the Cypriot Muse" - anthology of Cypriot poets (bilingual edition: Greek / Russian, (translation into Russian: Lara Bargilly)
5. "Ekdila" - anthology of poems by Anna Kelesidou and of Irene Galanou (bilingual edition, Russian version: Lara Bargilly)
6. Sergei Yesenin - anthology of poems by the great Russian poet of the "silver age" (Greek version: Lara Bargilly).

C. Literary studies in Greek:

1. "Return of Teucrides" - translation of Chrysothemidos Hatzipanagi’s poetry from Greek to Russian, including analysis thereof in the preface in context of the history of Cyprus (bilingual edition).
2. Treatise "Ina osin en", a study of philosophy and theological content, based on bibliography with 25 books and 11 articles.
3. "The Invisible Side" - memoirs in a bilingual volume (Greek and Russian) – a literary analysis based on the poetic work of Lara’s brother Vladimir, looking back into Russia’s historical background before Perestroika reflected in his poems and including a philosophical approach to the deadlocks which brought the country to reform.