Nikolaos Kirkinis was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the descendant of Greek-Cypriot, Egyptian, and Zimbabwean immigrants to South Africa. Kirkinis was schooled at St. Stithians Boys College where he was a prefect and Head of House. Following school, Kirkinis obtained two degrees (Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics & Honours Degree in International Relations) from the University of Stellenbosch. 

Kirkinis grew up a South African football fanatic, as well as an avid storyteller. Following university he sought to combine these traits and approached the most circulated weekly newspaper in the country at the time - Soccer Laduma. Kirkinis first worked as a football journalist, famous for his cultural and economic lens of analysis, he quickly became a favourite amongst football fans, appearing on radio and television as well. Within two months he was promoted to section editor. 

Towards the end of his first year of employment, Kirkinis successfully pitched for the rights to write the biography of the man many consider to be the greatest South African midfielder of the modern generation - Teko Modise. 

The Curse of Teko Modise was written when Kirkinis was 22. It went on to become a national and international bestseller and is considered a culturally significant piece of South African football history, being one of the first published authorized biographies of a Black South African footballer. 

Following this, Kirkinis was scouted out and employed by one of the largest advertising groups in the world, TBWA. Here, Kirkinis served as the head of content for a subdivision of the company called Backslash Africa. This platform was responsible for generating cultural insights that the business used to inform campaign strategy for some of the largest brands in the world including SPAR, MTN, Jaggermeister and others. Here Kirkinis created both videographical and written content for a variety of brands. 

While at TBWA, Kirkinis was approached by the African Woman’s Footballer of the Year 2018, Thembi Kgatlana. Kirkinis and Kgatlana would team up to release the first ever authorized biography of a Black South African women's footballer - Strike a Rock, the Thembi Kgatlana Story in 2019. Three years later a children’s book version of this story was brought out - Girls Don’t Do That, which was translated into multiple languages and also featured highly on bestseller charts. All three of the above mentioned books were published by Jacana Media. 

In 2021, Kirkinis’s most critically acclaimed work to date was published by Tafelburg Publishers - Ghetto Ninja: The Junior Khanye Story. This book was widely praised in reviews by notable figures, including battle hardened journalists such as the late, great, Eusebius McKaizer and Mandy Wiener, amongst others. 

Following this Kirkinis was brought in by Tafelburg Media to co-author a book with Don Lepati titled The Legend of Zola Mahobe. A fascinating historical account of a sophisticated white collar crime that took place in apartheid South Africa and lead to the formation of a football club that would go on to become one of the most successful clubs on the world, partially owned by American Rapper Jay-Z. 

In 2023, Kirkinis was approached by the international fashion and publishing house, Mami Watha to collaborate with various other authors on a coffee table book that focused on the unique socio-cultural aspects of alternative African sports. Kirkinis has five pieces published in this book:

1. Go and Fight, For Your Mother

2. The Crafters of Legacy

3. They Take Instructions From No Man

4. Don’t Ask, Get in The Bath

5. We Love That It Makes You Uncomfortable

Later in 2023, Kirkinis was a finalist and runner up in the South Africa Forty under 40 Awards for creative writing and authorship. This year also saw a surge in the interest surrounding Kirkinis as a public speaker, preaching messages of productive positivity and perspective fueled success. 

In 2024, Kirkinis approached the most popular and successful broadcaster in the country, a man who built the most followed platform in Africa. Together they told the wild story of the wild world of broadcasting and how they impacted the narrative of a nation. It is the story of a group of Black broadcasters who set out to document Black History, but ended up becoming a part of it. Uncancelable - The Incredible Rise of Mac G was released in November 2024 and was part of the Exclusive Books Christmas List 2024, a catalogue of the most recommended titles of the year. 

Recently, Kirkinis was signed by an overseas publishing house to produce a book about an American-Mexican athlete, the details of which will remain hidden from public until the project’s completion.