Moldovan departed poet commemorated at 85th birthday anniversary

Chisinau, 14 February /MOLDPRES/ - Dozens of people today assembled at the bust to departed poet Grigore Vieru on the Alley of Classics of the Romanian Literature from Chisinau, in order to pay homage to the poet on the day when he would have turned 85. Among the persons present at the event, there were writers, composers, newspapermen, politicians, teachers, pupils and children.

The head of the Moldovan Writers’ Union, moderator of the action Arcadie Suceveanu said that Grigore Vieru represented a moral model for us, a model of writer fully involved in the life of the country.   

„Grigore Vieru was a classical writer just during his lifetime. Yet, he became a classic under our eyes and we, his younger colleagues, were favoured to have such a mentor between us. We moved in the same boat of the moment. Through his civic actions, Vieru became a symbol of the national revival. He was a moral cliff. Vieru used to talk about the beauty of the Romanian language, our Romanian ideals as nobody else. He is a poet who is always up-to-date and continues to influence the state of spirit of this time. Grigore Vieru is loved for the sincerity  and simpleness of his writing, a deep simpleness, just as the one of the spring water,” Arcadie Suceveanu stressed.       

In the context, Calin Vieru, the poet’s son, said that, at present, translations were made from the works of his father in the Ukrainian and Hungarian languages, which will be first ever presented at the Grigore Vieru International Poetry Festival, the Chisinau-Iasi duplex, due in next May and Moldova’s Academy of Sciences continues to work on the Entire Work of Grigore Vieru. “We, the family members, are invited to schools, kindergartens and universities. We are happy that the Chisinau city hall identified a building for the Grigore Vieru House Museum in the city’s historical centre, at the intersection of the Eminescu and Mateevici streets,” Calin Vieru noted.      

The cultural actions dedicated to the departed poet during the day are held at the Moldovan Writers’ Union, Mihail Kogalniceanu National Museum of Literature, at education, cultural and artistic institutions from all over Moldova, as well as in Iasi and other cities of Romania. Also today, an international poetry festival, with the participation of pupils and more guests from Romania and Ukraine, is held in the Pererata village, the poet’s native settlement, at the Grigore Vieru House Museum.  

Poet Grigore Vieru was born in the Pererata village, Hotin county, presently northern Briceni, district on 14 February 1935. He was author of more volumes of poems. His works were translated into English, Russian, German, Italian, Bulgarian and other languages. In 1988, Grigore Vieru was awarded the most prestigious international distinction in the field of literature for children – the Hans Christian Andersen Honorary Diploma. In 1996, Vieru was awarded the Order of the Republic. In 1990, he was elected Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy and in 1993 – its corresponding member.

Grigore Vieru died in the wake of a car accident on 18 January 2009.  He was posthumously awarded the National Order of the Star of Romania in the Grade of Grand Cross.