Ion Druță (3 September 1928 – 28 September 2023), also known as Ion Drutse, was a Moldovan writer, poet, playwright and literary historian. He was an honorary member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

Biography

Ion Druță was born on 3 September 1928 in the village of Horodiște in what was then Soroca County in the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

(now in Dondușeni District,

Republic of Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised ...

). He graduated from the Forestry School and the Higher Courses of the Institute of Literature "Maxim Gorki" of the

Union of Soviet Writers The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers () was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1932) a ...

. From 1969, he lived in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Druță's first short stories were published in the early 1950s. His works are considered to be part of the "gold fund" of contemporary national literature. Ion Druta si Grigore Vieru

Druță died in

on 28 September 2023, at the age of 95. His ashes were buried under the Thanksgiving Candle,

Soroca Soroca is a city and municipality in northern Moldova, situated on the Dniester River about north of Chișinău. It is the administrative center of the Soroca District. History It is known for its well-preserved stronghold, established by t ...

Appreciations, distinctions, legality and criticism

From 1987, Ion Druță served as Honorary President of the Writers' Union of the Republic of Moldova, where he was unanimously elected to the General Assembly of Writers. Druță was the honorary president of the

Moldovan Writers' Union The Writers' Union of Moldova () is a professional association of writers in Moldova. Mihai Cimpoi had been the president of the Writers' Union of Moldova between 1991 and 2010. As of 2023, the president is Teo Chiriac, elected in 2021. Refere ...

from 1987. He initially only wrote in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, but wrote in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

as well from 1960. Druță was one of the leaders of the Romanian national movement in Moldova in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, from the 1990s, his position in the ethno-linguistic controversy became more ambiguous and Moldovenist, being both criticised by the pro-Romanian media and organizations and praised by the pro-Russian ones for this stance.

Works

Dramatic operas

Novels

* ''Frunze de dor'' * ''Povara bunătății noastre'' * ''Clopotnița'' * ''Întoarcerea țărânii în pământ'' * ''Biserica albă'' * ''Păsările tinereții noastre'' (1971) * ''Sania''

In English

* ''Moldavian Autumn'', various translators, University Press of the Pacific (2001)

Awards and honours

* Ordinul Drapelul Roșu de Muncă (1960) * Ordinul Lenin (1988) * Ordinul Republicii (1993) * Laureat al Premiului de Stat al RSS Moldovenești pentru romanul “Balade din cîmpie” și nuvela “Ultima lună de toamnă” (1967). * Scriitor al Poporului din RSS Moldovenească (1988) * Membru de Onoare al Academiei Române (1990). * Membru activ of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (1992). * Doctor Honoris Causa of the

Moldova State University Moldova State University (USM; Romanian language, Romanian: ''Universitatea de Stat din Moldova'') is a university located in Chișinău, Moldova. It was founded in 1946, and initially had five faculties, Physics and Mathematics, Geology and Ped ...

(1999). * Laureat al Premiului de Stat al Republicii Moldova în domeniul literaturii (2008)

Gallery

File:Stamp of Moldova 264.gif

External links

Druţă's short story The Samaritan Woman of Trezvory in English.

Ion Druţă
(in Romanian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Drutse, Ion 1928 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Russian poets 21st-century Russian writers Moldovan writers Moldovan male writers Titular members of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Honorary members of the Romanian Academy Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Republic (Moldova) Soviet male writers Romanian people of Moldovan descent People from Dondușeni District 20th-century Russian historians