LOCAL
Vasile Vasilache, the writer from Unțești: 100 years since his birth, a censored novel and a silver coin
On 4 July 2026, 100 years passed since the birth — in the village of Unțești, Ungheni district — of Vasile Vasilache, one of the most original prose writers of Bessarabia's 1960s generation. His novel «Povestea cu cocoșul roșu» (The Tale of the Red Rooster, 1966) also brought him ostracism: the second part was struck down by Soviet censorship, and the book appeared in full only in 1986. For the centenary, the state honours him with a silver coin, a symposium at the Academy and an exhibition at the National Library — all in Chișinău. In Ungheni, the living trace is the lower-secondary school in his native village that bears his name.
Ion Calmis·9 July 2026· Explainer