Russian Poet Yevtushenko Cancels Trip

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the controversial young Russian poet, will not visit Harvard, it was learned yesterday.

The wife of the Russian writer yesterday wired Albert C. Todd, an Indiana University professor who is sponsoring the poet's trip, that illness would force the cancellation of her husband's six-week tour of American colleges.

However, Terence Cogley '65, president of the Advocate, which was to sponsor Yevtushenko's stay at Harvard, said he had received no official word yet.

Cancellation No Surprise

News of the cancellation did not come as much of a surprise, since Yevtushenko's writing, which is often critical of the Soviet Union, has recently brought condemnation from Soviet political leaders. At a meeting with artists and writers last month, Premier Nikita Khrushchev singled out the 29-year-old poet and novelist Ilya Ehrenburg for severe censure.

The Soviet press has also attacked him several times in recent months, and last week one paper urged that he be forbidden to travel abroad until he became "mature politically."

Yet controversy and uncertainty remained in many minds even as late as yesterday afternoon. Oleg M. Sokolov, the press attache of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, told the CRIMSON that he had "no idea" whether the poet would visit the United States. "Any information about the trip must come from Yevtushenko himself," he said.

Soviet Embassy Denies Confirmation

In answer to an article which appeared in yesterday's New York Times, Sokolov denied that anyone at the Embassy had assured Princeton students Friday the Soviet writer would make his scheduled trip. "No one here confirmed or denied Yevtushenko's plans because no one spoke to anyone at Princeton," he said.

In the face of the Sokolov denial, Princeton students maintained that an Embassy official had informed them by telephone on Friday that the controversial poet would speak at their cultural symposium April 19-21. "When I spoke to Mr. Bugrov at the Embassy this morning, he said Yevtushenko was still coming." James M. Stuart, chairman of the symposium, said yesterday. "Since then, of course, I've found out differently," he added.

During his scheduled visit to Harvard, the Soviet writer was to give a public lecture, with translator, on the role of the artist in society, and a reading of his poems in Russian.