Vlaicu Bârna

From 1941 to 1947, he was press representative at the Propaganda Ministry and the Foreign Ministry. Under the Communist regime, he was editor at Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă (1949–1951), literary adviser at Radiodifuziunea română (1951–1966), editor at Viața Românească (1968–1974) and literary secretary of the Romanian Writers' Union (1972–1976). He edited and headed the publications Arta (1941; Arta nouă in 1942–1943) and Galeria (1941–1943). He was a participant in the Sburătorul circle, particularly from 1933 to 1935. Bârna's first published poems appeared in Azi, Viața literară, and Litere in 1934; his first poetry book was the 1936 Cabane albe. His work appeared in Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Familia, Universul literar, Gazeta literară, România Literară, and Steaua. In 1944, during World War II, he edited the bimonthly Câmpia Libertății, a publication that protested against fascism and the Second Vienna Award. Starting with Brume (1940) and through the retrospective selection Cupa de aur (1970) and Patria mea, plai al Mioriței (1977), he sought to evoke a medieval Transylvania dominated by mountain landscapes and the turbulent history of the moți. Under communism, in the socialist realist framework, he also celebrated the new societal conditions. He wrote two historical novels for young people: Romanul Caterinei Varga (1961) and Când era Horia împărat (1962). Authors he translated include Adam Mickiewicz, Heinrich Heine, and Victor Hugo. He won the Ion Pavelescu Prize for sonnets in 1934 and the Romanian Academy's Mihai Eminescu Prize in 1977. In 1996 he was made honorary citizen of Brad; a memorial for Bârna is located in his native village, Crișan.

• Name — Vlaicu Bârna • Birth Name — Vlaicu Victor Virgil Bârna • Born — 4 December 1913 • Birthplace — Crișan, Hunedoara County, Transylvania • Died — 11 March 1999 • Occupation — poet • Father — Ion Bârna • Mother — Maria (née Pavel) • Education — University of Bucharest