Blaže Koneski (; 19 December 1921 – 7 December 1993) was a Macedonian poet, writer, literary translator, and linguistic scholar. His major contribution was to the codification of standard Macedonian. He is the key figure who shaped Macedonian literature and intellectual life in the country however he has also been accused of serbianizing the Macedonian standard language. Biography Koneski was born in Nebregovo, in the then province of South Serbia, part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (current day North Macedonia). His family was strongly pro-Serbian and identified as Serbs since Ottoman times, with a long tradition of serving in the Serbian army and Serbian guerrillas, especially his mother's uncle Gligor Sokolović who was a famous Serbian Chetnik voivode. He received a Royal Serbian scholarship to study in the Kragujevac gymnasium or high school. Later, he studied medicine at the University of Belgrade, and then changed to Serbian language and literature. In 1941, after the defeat of Yugoslavia in Aufmarsch 25, he enrolled in the Faculty of Slavic studies at the Sofia University. After the Bulgarian coup d'état in September 1944, he returned to his native land, before completing his higher education. Here Koneski began working in the department for communist agitprop at the Main Headquarters of the Macedonian Partisans. However, in 1945 at the age of 23 he became one of the most important contributors to the standardization of Macedonian. He worked as a lector in the Macedonian National Theater, but in 1946, he joined the faculty at the Philosophy Department of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, where he worked until his retirement. In 1957 he received there the title of full professor. At the same time, he taught the subject of the history of the Macedonian language, and during his entire university career he held the position of head of the Department of Macedonian Language and South Slavic Languages. In 1952/1953 he was dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, and in 1958-1960 he was rector of the University of Skopje. Meanwhile Koneski worked as an editor, and was a prolific contributor to the literary journal "Nov Den", the predecessor of the oldest-survived literary journal "Sovremenost", and "Macedonian Language", published by the Institute for Macedonian language. He became a member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1967, and was elected its president in 1967 through 1975. Koneski was also a member