Leonard Tuchilatu (November 10, 1951 – November 4, 1975) was a Romanian poet from Moldova, one of the former soviet republics. He died of an incurable illness at the age of 24, after being subjected to multiple disciplinary punishments during mandatory army service (the ruthlessness of the soviet military abuses is infamous in the post-soviet territories). Though virtually unknown outside Moldova, the poet has gathered a following among several generations of Moldovan poets. Many of Tuchilatu’s poems were written in the last few years of his short life, when he was keenly aware of his impending death. He never saw his poems in print. Posthumously published collections: Sol / Messenger (1977), Fata Morgana (1989), the anthology Sol. Fata Morgana (1995), Orchestrele dimineții / Morning Orchestras (2021), and the bilingual (Romanian / Russian) collection Rapsodie / Rhapsody (2001).
