Mircea Ivanescu, one of the most prominent Romanian poets, a pioneering figure of Central and Eastern European postmodernism, passed away, yesterday, in Sibiu, after a long suffering, Realitatea.net reports, quoting Cartea Romaneasca Publishing. Aged 80, Ivanescu made an essential contribution to the comeback of storytelling in the Romanian poetry of the late 1960s and 1970s. One day before his death, Ivanescu was nominated to the 2011 “Prometheus pentru Opera Omnia” honorary award, in the Literature section. The recipient of numerous awards for his poetic work and translations, Mircea Ivanescu was the Romanian Professional Writers’ Guild’s proposal for the Nobel for Literature, at the request of the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Committee. Ivanescu left behind a complex body of work as a writer, essayist and translator. His poetry collections include “Poeme noua” (Cartea Romaneasca, 1983), “Alte poeme noua” (Cartea Romaneasca, 1986), “Versuri vechi, noua” (Eminescu, 1988), “Poeme alese” (1966-1989), “Poeme vechi, noua” (Cartea Romaneasca, 1989), “Versuri” (Eminescu, 1996).
