Bessarabia is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coastal region and part of the Ukrainian Chernivtsi Oblast covering a small area in the north.
Grigore Vieru was a Moldovan poet, writer and unionist advocate, known for his poems and books for children. His poetry is characterized by vivid natural scenery, patriotism, as well as a venerated image of the sacred mother. Vieru wrote in the Romanian language. In 1993 he was elected a correspondent member of the Romanian Academy.
Emilian Bucov or Bukov was a Soviet and Moldavian writer and poet, recognized with the State Prize of the Moldavian SSR and honorary title of People's Writer of the Moldavian SSR (1982). He studied at the Bucharest University and took part in underground communist movement. Bukov was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labour in 1979 for his work, the Order of Lenin medal twice and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice.
Nichita Danilov is a Romanian poet. He served as the acting ambassador of Romania to Moldova in 1999. Nichita Danilov is ethnically Lipovan.
Todur Zanet is a Gagauz and Moldovan journalist, folklorist and poet, one of the most prominent contributors to Gagauz literature and theater. He is the editor-in-chef of Ana Sözü newspaper, which cultivates the Gagauz language, and has written the original anthem of Gagauzia. His activity as a journalist began under Soviet rule, and first peaked during the Perestroika years, when he became involved with the Gagauz nationalist movement.
Anton Crihan was a Bessarabian politician, lawyer, author, economist, professor and journalist. He was a member of Sfatul Țării (1917), adviser to the Secretary of State for Agriculture in the General Directorate of the Republic of Moldova (1917), deputy in the Parliament of Romania, adviser to the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture and Domains (1932–1933), professor at the Polytechnic University of Iasi and at the Faculty of Agronomy in Chisinau (1934–1940).
Veaceslav Untilă is a Moldovan politician.
Ghenadie Ciobanu is a composer and politician from the Republic of Moldova, who served as the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Moldova (1997-2001) and served as a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in the Party faction Liberal Democrats from Moldova between 2010 and 2014. He composed symphonies, written works for chamber ensembles (instrumental), choral creations, theater and film music, etc.
Nicolae Negru is a writer and journalist from Moldova. He works for Jurnal TV, Vocea Basarabiei, and Jurnal de Chișinău.
Serafim Saca was a writer from Moldova. He is credited with being the author and director of several documentaries including House with Flowers (1965), Chișinău – 67 (1967), and Cross-Roads (1967). He became a member of the Moldovan Writers' Union in 1966. He was forbidden to publish between 1976 and 1987.
Ion Vatamanu was a chemist, writer, and politician from Moldova. He served as member of the Parliament of Moldova (1990–1994) and chairman of the Committee on Culture of the Parliament of Moldova.
Vasile Tărâțeanu was a Ukrainian writer and activist of Romanian ethnicity.
Ion Ciocanu was a Moldovan literary critic.
Tudor Cataraga was a sculptor from the Republic of Moldova.
Vitalie Ciobanu is a journalist from the Republic of Moldova. He is the editor in chief of Contrafort He is a member of the Writers' Union of Romania, the Moldovan Writers' Union and the Group for Social Dialogue.
Mihail Savenco was a Moldovan politician of Ukrainian descent. He was a high-ranking official of the Moldavian Democratic Republic.
Leons Briedis was a Latvian poet, a novelist, an essayist, a literary critic and publisher, translator of prose and poetry from Latin, Russian, English, Romance languages, Swahili, Albanian and other languages. He was also an author of several musicals produced on the radio and staged at the biggest theatres in Latvia, script writer wrote much for children, author of song texts, translated 10 plays staged at Latvian theatres and rendered in verse opera librettos.
Virgil Mihaiu is a Romanian writer, jazz critic, diplomat, jazz aesthetics professor, polyglot, and performer. He was co-founder and the first director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Lisbon, and served as minister-counselor at the Romanian embassy in Portugal. Since 2015 he is director of the Casa do Brasil / Brazilian Cultural Centre, as well as the Biblioteca de Estudios Latinoamericanos, both institutions functioning under the aegis of Cluj's principal University.
Literature of Moldova comprises the literature of the principality of Moldavia, the later trans-Prut Moldavia, Bessarabia, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the modern Republic of Moldova, irrespective of the language. Although there has been considerable controversy over linguistic identity in Moldova, the Moldovan and Romanian languages are virtually identical and share a common literary history. Moldovan literature, therefore, has considerable overlap with Romanian literature.
Samuil Rivinovici Lehtțir, also rendered as Lehțir, Lehtțâr, Lekhttsir, Lekhtser, and Lehitser, was Moldovan poet, critic, and literary theorist. Of Bessarabian Jewish origin, he rejected Romanian nationalism as a youth, and fled to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Returning to complete his studies at Cernăuți University in the Kingdom of Romania, but was regarded as a political suspect, and again escaped to the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR) in 1926—soon after that polity had been created within the Soviet Union. He was employed as a book publisher and journalist, emerging as an authority on literary matters. Lehtțir adopted Proletkult ideas about the need to destroy and rebuild cultural traditions; on such grounds, he and his colleague Iosif Vainberg came to deny that there was a Bessarabian literature that was worth preserving, and that Moldavian literary tradition could be built up from proletarian identity and Soviet patriotism. This sparked a special controversy within a larger debate about Romanian and Moldavian identity.
