Poet Yevtushenko receives a UNESCO medal

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a representative of the post-

Stalin generation of Soviet poets who was particularly popular in the 1960s, has

received the UNESCO medal and diploma “for outstanding contribution to

developing culture and strengthening inter-cultural dialogue and relations among

nations.
The award ceremony took place at the opening of Days of Russian Language at the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization headquarters in

Paris on Friday.
“Thank you very much for this medal,” Yevtushenko said in French.
It is the first time that the UNESCO headquarters was hosting Days of Russian

Language instituted in 2010, Eleonora Mitrofanova, Russia’s permanent

representative to UNESCO, told Itar-Tass.
A poetic evening of Yevgeny Yevtushenko took place at the Russian embassy in

France a day earlier, on Thursday. Yevtushenko who is the winner of many

prestigious awards presented his new poem Dora Franco.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who is also a script writer and a publicist, wrote more than

150 books which had been translated into many foreign languages.