Skopje, 27 August 2023 (MIA) — President Stevo Pendarovski hosted Sunday in Ohrid this year's Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath winner Vlada Uroshevikj, SPE festival director Todorche Tasevski, festival managing board chair Elizabeta Sheleva, Brothers Miladinov award winner Dimitar Bashevski and the Bridges of Struga UNESCO-sponsored prize winner Gavin Bradley.

According to an official press release, President Pendarovski congratulated the award winners on their literary prizes, highlighting his pride that Uroshevikj, a renowned Macedonian writer, had received the festival's main prize this year.

Pendarovski congratulated the organizers on completing another festival, adding that the SPE was "a triumph of Macedonian culture and tradition enriching the world's cultural space."

He also stressed that the country was proud to host one of the world's oldest and best-regarded poetry festivals.

Vlada Uroshevikj (b. 1934, Skopje) released his debut poetry collection "Another City" in 1959. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, essays and reviews. His poems have been translated into Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian and English; and he has translated into Macedonian a number of French poets. mr/