Writer Ion Druta dies at 95
This morning, at 10 o'clock, in Moscow, the writer Ion Druță died at the age of 95. The sad news comes from the writer's niece, who was with him in the last moments of his life.
According to a bibliography made by the Cartier Publishing House, his first stories were published in the early 1950s. The first volume of sketches and short stories "La noi in sat" was published in 1953, being followed by other stories, then by the novel "Frunze de dor" (written in 1955, published in 1957). He collaborated with the newspapers "Tăranul Sovietic", "Moldova socialistă" and the magazine "Femeia Moldovei". He graduated from the Higher Literature courses at the Institute of Literature "A. M. Gorki" of the Writers' Union of the USSR (1957).
The destructive criticisms from the communist officials of the Moldovan SSR regarding his writings, especially the novel "Povara bunatatii noastre" (1963, first part, Balade din campie; in full, Povara bunatatii noastre, 1970), as well as the film "Ultima luna de toamna", make the author settle in Moscow (1959).
As a playwright, he is the author of a series of plays successfully staged both in the USSR and on the stages of many theaters in the former USSR and abroad: „Casa mare” (1961), „Doina” (1968), „Păsările tinereții noastre” (1971), „Horia” (1973), „Frumos și sfânt” (Sfânta sfintelor 1974), „Cervius divinus” (1975), „Întoarcerea țărânei în pământ” (Plecarea lui Tolstoi; 1978), „Apostolul Pavel” (1996) and more.
In 1967, he was awarded the State Prize of the Moldovan SSR for the short story „Ultima lună de toamnă” and the novel „Balade din câmpie”. A bilingual writer, he publishes several volumes of prose, essays and dramaturgy in Russian in Moscow. He holds the titles of Writer of the People (1988), honorary member of the Romanian Academy (1990) and full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova (1992). Laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Moldova in literature (2008) and of the Constantin Brâncoveanu Prize, Literature section (2014).
His work also includes the novels „Clopotnița” (1972), „Întoarcerea țărânei în pământ” (1974) și „Biserica Albă” (1983). For children, he wrote „Balada celor cinci motănași”, „Povestea furnicii”. In 2020, he publishes an epistolary almanac with the title "Despartirea apelor" at the Cartier Publishing House.
