Kostenko, Nikolai Fedorovich

Born Dec. 21, 1913, in Kishinev. Soviet Moldavian writer.

Kostenko studied at the University of Ia§i. He made his literary debut in 1934. His first collection, Poems, was published in 1937, followed by the collections Hours (1939) and Pagan Elegies (1940). After the liberation of Bessarabia in 1940, Kostenko worked on the magazine Nistrul (October). His other collections include New Poems (1960) and Poems (1961) in Moldavian and Constancy (1959) and Moldavian Songs (1961) in Russian. Kostenko has also written sketches and stories from the life of Moldavian villagers. His novel Severograd (1962) deals with the workers of the North. He translated the works of A. S. Pushkin, M. lu. Lermontov, T. G. Shevchenko, S. A. Esenin, and A. A. Blok into Moldavian.