Demostene Botez

Demostene Botez (July 2, 1893 – March 18, 1973) was a Romanian poet and prose writer.

Born in Trușești (then called Hulub), Botoșani County, his parents were Anghel Botez, a Romanian Orthodox priest, and his wife Ecaterina (née Chirica), the daughter of a priest. After attending the first two grades of school in his native village, in 1900 he was sent to learn at Botoșani and later at Iași. There he was first a student at a private high school and then at the Boarding High School, from which he graduated in 1912. In 1915, he obtained a law degree from the University of Iași. He made his published debut in 1911, in the Iași-based Arhiva magazine. After seeing frontline action during World War I, he published the short poetry book Munții (1918), which was prefaced by Garabet Ibrăileanu and received the Romanian Academy's Adamache literary prize. He practiced law in Iași and in Bucharest for several decades, and the 1958 Prin ani included additional poems about Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. and from 1963 a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy. He served as editor-in-chief and later director of Viața Românească's new series. From 1964 to 1965, he was interim president of the Romanian Writers' Union.