After the Moldovan authorities decided to pay homage to the Cantemir dynasty and increase the role played by the youth in the country’s social and political life by declaring 2008 as their national year, the renowned writer Ion Druta could join the club. The proposal came at a Government meeting this week from Minister of Culture and Tourism Artur Cozma, who thinks this would be the best way to show Druta the nation’s recognition of his merits in the year of his 80th birth anniversary. The proposal is yet to pass through Parliament. Minister Cozma couldn’t tell what exactly the observance agenda would contain. He only mentioned the huge contribution of Ion Druta to the development of our literature. Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev charged Minister Cozma and Deputy Premier Victor Stepaniuc to invite Ion Druta to Chisinau in order to discuss the observance agenda with him, and subsequently submit it to the Government for consideration. Ion Druta has been living in Moscow since 1960. He was born on 3 September 1928 in a remote Moldovan village. He graduated from a forestry school and completed higher courses in literature at the Maxim Gorky Institute of the USSR Writers’ Union. Ion Druta is perhaps the most outstanding Moldovan modern dramatist and novelist. His novel “Balade de campie” (1963; “Ballads of the Steppes”), an investigation of the psychology of the village, marked a significant turning point in the evolution of Moldovan fiction; and his play “Casa Mare” (1962; “The Parlour”) turned away from the concept of collectivity to probe the individual conscience.