Mihail Sorbul

Mihail Sorbul (pen name of Mihail Smolsky; October 16 (or 19), 1885 – December 20, 1966) was a Romanian playwright and novelist.

Born in Botoșani, his parents were Anton Smolsky, a Polish uhlan lieutenant, later a shareholder in a petroleum company, and his wife Maria (née Moscovici). He attended high school in Iași, Ploiești, and Bucharest, graduating in 1905. From 1905 to 1906, he briefly took courses at the law faculty of the University of Bucharest, followed by Constantin Nottara's class at the Dramatic Arts Conservatory from 1906 to 1907. His debut was the 1906 play Eroii noștri, published under is real name; the tragicomedy deals with the corrupted turn of the century youth. Also under his birth name, Convorbiri Critice published the plays Vânt de primăvară (1908), Poveste banală (later Poveste studențească), Înviere and Două credințe (all 1909). Between 1910 and 1911, he published Scena magazine with Liviu Rebreanu. In 1913, he was literary secretary of Marioara Voiculescu's acting company. His dramatic sketch Săracul popă!, his tragicomedy Praznicul calicilor (both published in Convorbiri Critice in 1909, under the pen name Sorbul suggested by magazine chief Mihail Dragomirescu) and his 1914 drama Letopiseți introduced a prosaic-realist, anti-romantic vision into the Romanian historical drama. Sorbul died in Bucharest.

A street and a park in Mioveni bear his name.