Adrian Păunescu

Adrian Păunescu (20 July 1943 – 5 November 2010) was a Romanian poet, journalist, and politician. Though criticised for praising dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, Păunescu was called "Romania's most famous poet" in an Associated Press story, quoted by the New York Times.

Born in Copăceni, Bălţi County, in what is now the Republic of Moldova, Păunescu spent his childhood in Bârca, Dolj County. He did his secondary studies at Carol I High School in Craiova.

Păunescu studied philology at the University of Bucharest and became a writer and journalist. He was an influential public figure for Romanian youth throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Though he was criticised for writing flattering poems about dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, Păunescu remained popular in Romania, where he appeared on television several times a week.

As posthumously summarized by newspaper România Liberă, Păunescu "is still viewed as a hero by the man in the street" although "intellectuals continue to question his integrity and the literary value of his work".

A member of the Union of Communist Youth between 1966 and 1968, and, between 1968 and 1989, of the Romanian Communist Party, Păunescu gained control over a major weekly publication, Flacăra and became the producer and host of the only itinerant folk and pop show in the country, Cenaclul Flacăra, founded in 1973.

After 1989 Păunescu pursued a political career, aligning himself with socialism and then social-democratic political parties.

In 1996, he ran in the Romanian presidential election but received only 87,163 votes (0.69%). He was a senator from 1992 to 2008, representing Dolj County (1992–2004) and then Hunedoara County (2004–2008), first of the Socialist Labour Party, and later of the Social Democratic Party of Romania. He received the most votes in his district at the 2008 election, but failed to win a seat after the votes were redistributed pursuant to the MMP system used.

Aged 67, Păunescu was hospitalized on 26 October 2010 in the intensive care unit of the Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, with problems of more vital organs caused by pulmonary edema. Păunescu had subsequent renal, liver and heart failure. He was declared dead at 7.15 AM, on 5 November 2010. Survived by his wife and three children, Păunescu was posthumously thanked by Romania's president Traian Băsescu who in saluting him mentioned only his contributions to art.

• Ultrasentimente (1965)
• Mieii primi (1966)
• Fântâna somnambulă (1968)
• Cărțile poștale ale morții (1970)
• Aventurile extraordinare ale lui Hap și Pap (1970)
• Viata de exceptii (1971)
• Sub semnul întrebării (1971)
• Istoria unei secunde (1971)
• Lumea ca lume (1973)
• Repetabila povară (1974)
• Pământul deocamdată (1976)
• Poezii de până azi (1978)
• Sub semnul întrebării (1979)
• Manifest pentru sănătatea pământului (1980)
• Iubiți-vă pe tunuri (1981)
• De la Bârca la Viena și înapoi (1981)
• Rezervația de zimbri (1982)
• Totuși iubirea (1983)
• Manifest pentru mileniul trei (1984)
• Manifest pentru mileniul trei (1986)
• Locuri comune (1986)
• Viața mea e un roman (1987)
• Într-adevăr (1988)
• Sunt un om liber (1989)
• Poezii cenzurate (1990)
• Romaniada (1993–1994)
• Bieți lampagii (1993–1994)
• Noaptea marii beții (1993–1994)
• Front fără învingători (1995)
• Infracțiunea de a fi (1996)
• Tragedia națională (1997)
• Deromânizarea României (1998)
• Cartea Cărților de Poezie (1999)
• Meserie mizarabilă, sufletul (2000)
• Măștile însîngerate (2001)
• Nemuritor la zidul morții (2001)
• Până la capăt (2002)
• Liber să sufăr (2003)
• Din doi în doi (2003)
• Eminamente (2003)
• Cartea Cărților de Poezie (2003)
• Logica avalanșei (2005)
• Antiprimăvara (2005)
• Ninsoarea de adio (2005)
• Un om pe niște scări (2006)
• De mamă și de foaie verde (2006)
• Copaci fără pădure (2006)
• Vagabonzi pe plaiul mioritic (2007)
• Rugă pentru părinți (2007)
• Încă viu (2008)
• Libertatea de unică folosință (2009)