Poet Yevtushenko dies

Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko has died in the US aged 84 from a cardiac arrest.

I am conscious that these minutes are short
and that the colours in my eyes will vanish…

RIP Yevgeny #Yevtushenko pic.twitter.com/RShPwXalTZ

— alexia (@akbned) April 1, 2017

He was the last of a wave of poets who came to prominence in the USSR in the 1960s. Yevtushenko championed greater freedom in artistic and literary expression, helping to bring about a move from political to aesthetic forms in post-Stalin Russia.

Perhaps Yevtushenko’s most renowned offering was the taboo-breaking epic, Babi Yar.

Remembering #BabiYar, how I learned about it through Yevtushenko's poetry… https://t.co/dmrvWhTfAh

— kelly miller (@bibezhik) September 29, 2016