The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, in a solemn ceremony in Villa Biljana in Ohrid, awarded the Order of Merits for Macedonia to the Struga Poetry Evenings manifestation in the year marking its 50th anniversary.

”It is extremely important and great jubilee, 50 years of existence of undoubtedly one of the most prestigious Macedonian cultural brands. The Struga Poetry Evenings for five decades has been devoted to promote poetry and literature, celebrating the magic and beauty of the word, again and again giving energy and sense to the language”, President Ivanov said in his address.

Launched in 1962, with a series of readings by number of Macedonian poets in honor of the Miladinovci brothers, already in a few years grew into an international poetry event, awarding the prestigious prize, the “Golden Wreath”.

In 50 years, with 4000 participants, poets, translators, essayists and literary critics from 95 countries, the Struga Poetry Evenings have become one of the most important cultural events in Macedonia, being among the most prestigious literary festivals in Europe and worldwide. But as President Ivanov noted, the real meaning cannot be expressed through statistics and data, especially given the poetry colossuses who were part of this manifestation in Struga.

The celebration of the manifestation this year is part of the official program of UNESCO. But what Struga did for poetry was also positively reflected in terms of positive promotion of the Lake Ohrid and its surrounding beauties, both natural and civilization. As President Ivanov said: Macedonia and its inexhaustible cultural and spiritual wealth are promoted.

“Again, along the river Drim, the most beautiful verses sung in the world languages will be heralded and will find their way to the hearts of all poetry lovers. I sincerely wish that in future the poetic meridians intersect exactly on the Bridges of Struga, testifying for the immortality of poetry and art”, said in conclusion President Ivanov, awarding the Order to the President of the Management Board of the SPE, the poet Slave Gjorgjo Dimoski.

Dimoski stressed that Macedonia is a rare country that has the most precious poetic anthology of latest world poetry. With the Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia’s poetry has found its high and dignified place in the world poetry.

The ceremony was attended by some of the young leaders participating in the School for Leaders, which is being held under the auspices of President Ivanov.