The winners of the "Golden Wreath" and "Bridges of Struga" awards at the "Struga Evenings of Poetry" for 2023 were announced on March 21 - World Poetry Day at formal events held simultaneously in Paris and Skopje.

This year we had the exceptional opportunity to announce the laureates simultaneously at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and at the National and University Library "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Skopje.

At the UNESCO headquarters, as part of the program of the international symposium in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Atso Shopov, the director of the SVP, Todorche Tasevski, announced the laureates of the SVP, and in the NUB "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the official event on the occasion of World Poetry Day and commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Aco Shopov's birth, the laureates were announced by the president of the SVP Management Board, Elizabeta Sheleva, and the member of the SVP Management Board, Vladimir Martinovski, after which was followed by a poetry reading by prominent poet members of the Macedonian PEN Center and the Society of Writers of Macedonia.

The winner of the "Golden Wreath" for 2023, the main prize of the "Poetry Evenings in Struga", is the Macedonian poet Vlada Urosevic. The laureate's award will be presented at the "Bridges" poetry reading, one of the central manifestations of this year's edition of the festival, scheduled to take place from August 24 to 28.

The reasoning of the decision, prof. Dr. Elizabeta Sheleva, president of the Management Board of the "Poetry Evenings in Struga", read it in Skopje.

- The name of Vlada Urošević - even for those who are not thoroughly versed in his long-term and multi-genre work - is synonymous with a passionate lover of letters, sincerely devoted to the seductive magic of literary creation and, in the face of all the temptations of modern times, unwaveringly faithful to the Word ! Ready to easily reach out and creatively try himself in the most diverse genre forms and experiments, with an almost equal share in all of them – Urošević has remained productive and vital even today, in his later years (which he wears remarkably lucidly and effortlessly). Urošević remained consistent (and recognizable not only in our literature) for the creative combination of fantasy and surrealism, which he nurtures in his numerous author's writings, but also tireless reading adventures, imbued with research curiosity and a lasting affinity for these two related areas - emphasized Sheleva .

In the welcome address, which Academician Urošević read from the lectern at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, he emphasized the following: "In a merciless process of materialization and commercialization of all values, which is currently taking place worldwide, poetry has been taken down from its former pedestal of one of the most influential arts. At the same time, her role may have become less visible, but no less significant. Poets from all over the world, like a secret brotherhood, continue their mission of defending spirituality. The "Struj evenings of poetry", with their many years of fruitful activity, prove that the activity of poets - despite all attempts to push them to the background - still has its own significant part in the basic task of the arts - the creation of the world."

The winner of the 2023 Bridges of Struga Award is Gavin Bradley, an Irish author from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who lives and works in Canada. The award is given to him for his debut book "Fear of Separation".

"This moving debut from Gavin Bradley explores the emotional toll that comes from different kinds of separation: separation from a partner, separation from a previous sense of self, or separation from the home and people we've left behind," reads the Bridges Award statement. in Struga".

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" number 172, in the printed edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 25-26.3.2023)