Poet Dumitru Matcovschi awarded by Romanian President

Poet Dumitru Matcovschi was conferred the Cultural Merit Order in Literature by the President of Romania Traian Basescu. The order will be handed over by the State Secretary for Romanians Everywhere Eugen Tomac, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a communiqué from the Department for Romanians Everywhere, the award ceremony is organized in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute “Mihai Eminescu” in Chisinau. It will take place on April 25 and will involve over 150 invitees. The order is awarded in gratitude for the abnegation and perseverance with which the poet promoted the national and cultural values of Romania, pleading for the observance of the rights of the Romanian communities outside the country and contributing to strengthening the ties between the Romanians everywhere. During the ceremony, Cristi Aldea Teodorovici will sing several songs on the verses of Dumitru Matcovschi from the repertoire of the late Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici. Born on October 20, 1939 in Vadul-Rascov village of Soroca district, Dumitru Matcovschi became one of the greatest poets of Moldova, being recognized as a symbol of the national renaissance movement in Bessarabia. In 1988, while editor-in-chief of the magazine “Nistru”, which later became “Basarabia”, he had the courage to publish a historical article by Valentin Mandacanu, which aroused the national conscience in the fight for the Latin script. On May 17, 1989, Dumitru Matcovschi suffered an accident and went into a coma, but miraculously came to his senses after six months. He underwent over 20 surgeries. Though marked by that event, Dumitru Matcovschi continues to create and his work represents of the most valuable inheritances left to the Romanian literature.