Milan Rúfus Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

In 1998, a minor planet 33158 Rúfus was named after him. On December 10, 2013, a Google Doodle celebrated his life and work.

Milan Rúfus was born to a family of bricklayers in Závažná Poruba, located in the Žilina region of what is today the Slovak Republic. After graduating in 1948 from grammar school in the town of Liptovský Mikuláš, he studied the Slovak language, literature, and history in the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava. From 1952 until his retirement in 1989, he lectured at Comenius University on the history of Slovak and Czech literature. From 1971 to 1972 he also taught Slovak language and literature at the University of Naples, Italy. He retired in 1990 and lived with his family in Bratislava. On January 11, 2008, Rúfus died a month after his 80th birthday, at the University Hospital in that city.

Rúfus, whose works have been translated into more than 20 languages, had been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature multiple times beginning in 1991. He became the first winner of the international Crane Summit Award for poetry 2008, introduced in Bratislava on his birthday, 10 December 2008. As part of the award, his poems have been translated into Chinese.

Rúfus published his first poems in the magazines Prameň (Stream), Nový rod (New lineage), Mladá tvorba (Production of young ones) and Borba in the 1940s. His first collection, Až dozrieme (“When We Grow Mature”) debuted in 1956. Až dozrieme was a huge progression in understanding of poetry in that period. His work was influenced by symbolism, while he also exhibited strong social feelings. His sources of inspiration included Slovak folk art, the compositions of various Slovak painters, and also the work of photographer Martin Martinček.

Milan Rúfus (December 10, 1928 – January 11, 2009) was a Slovak poet, essayist, translator, children’s writer and academic. Rúfus is the most translated Slovak poet into other languages.