Every year, the Writers' Association of Macedonia awards the "Literary Scepter" award for poetic opus with exceptional aesthetic values ​​to a domestic and a foreign author and celebrates their work within the manifestation "Feast of the Lindens". This year, the Macedonian poet Ivan Dzeparoski and the poet from neighboring Serbia Dusan Stojkovic are crowned with this prestigious award.

Ivan (Ivica) Dzeparoski (1958, Skopje) is a poet, philosopher, esthetician, critic and translator. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, where he obtained his master's and doctoral degrees. He is the author of thirty books: seven poetry books, three poetry anthologies, fourteen books in the field of aesthetics and literary criticism and six theoretical-essay choices.

Duшаan Stojkovi ((1948, Belgrade, Serbia) is a poet, short story writer, literary critic, essayist, translator. He is the editor of the magazine "Shamadiski metaphori" (Mladenovac) and a member of the editorial boards of the magazines "Bdeenje" (Svrlig) and "Nasha traga" (Velika Plana). He is an academic at the Slavic Literary and Art Academy in Varna. He is the author of two extensive volumes: "The Poetic Trees of Macedonian Lyrics" and "Macedonian Prose in Serbian" (2021), as well as a number of selections, anthologies, reviews, panoramas, reviews, essays.

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" No. 84, in the print edition of "Free Press" on June 12-13, 2021)