At the grave of Penyo Penev* I stood in front of the unfinished block, which marks the end of the town. From the one time hill under my feet I just remember the strong wind of dusk - unused to the new echo, it attempts it over again in a cave of concrete, where the … Continue reading Zlatomir Zlatanov: At the grave of Penyo Penev
In March 2018, one of the top news in Bulgaria was the announcement of the "Dossier Commission" that deals with the files of the former communist State Security Services, that Julia Kristeva, the prominent French writer and intellectual of Bulgarian origin has been an agent of the State Security, according to their findings. What followed … Continue reading Hristo Hristov: Kill the Wanderer
Bulgaria’s rural areas have seen a dramatic change in the last decades: the population of many villages is dwindling, a lack of public infrastructure, such as schools, medical services, sometimes even water and electricity supply, but also of jobs have driven many people in the bigger cities or abroad; at the same time Bulgaria’s population … Continue reading Mikhail Veshim: The English Neighbour
Iliya Troyanov: The Collector of Worlds (UK: Faber & Faber; US: Ecco) Winner of the 2006 Leipzig Book Prize for Literature Shortlisted for the 2006 German Book Prize Translated from German by William Hobson I knew nothing of the British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, (1821-1890), before reading Bulgarian-born Troyanov’s novel. And so my first … Continue reading Iliya Troyanov’s The Collector of Worlds: A Review by Lizzy Siddal
As soon as you open Alexander Shpatov’s short story collection and read the first story “Experience Sofia”, you know that this author loves his city. He loves it so much that he wants the reader to love it too and – even better – to see it with the eyes of someone who has lived … Continue reading #LiveFromSofia -Short Stories by Alexander Shpatov: A Review by Caroline Couderc
"New Social Poetry" is a Bulgarian literary movement, created in 2016 in Sofia. The first publication of this group, the "Manifesto of the New Social Poetry" has caused a lot of controversial discussions due to the outspoken rhetoric of the text against the so-called "peaceful transition" in Bulgaria, a period after the official end of … Continue reading New Social Poetry: an interview with Vladimir Sabourin
The territory of what is today the Republic of Bulgaria was for more than five centuries part of the Ottoman Empire and I think it is fair to say that the fight for liberation from what Bulgarians call either the “Ottoman Yoke“ or “Ottoman Slavery” is until today a defining moment for the identity of … Continue reading Two Books on the Ottoman/Turkish Heritage in Bulgaria
In John Updike’s short story “The Bulgarian Poetess” the narrator reports the following short dialogue with the eponymous Bulgarian Poetess: "Your poems. Are they difficult?" She smiled and, unaccustomed to speaking English, answered carefully, drawing a line in the air with two delicately pinched fingers holding an imaginary pen: "They are difficult—to write." He laughed, … Continue reading Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation (III/2): the period 1944-1989 – Blaga Dimitrova
Konstantin Pavlov was one of the most important and gifted Bulgarian poets of the period after 1944. His immense talent and poetic imagination, and his independent personality brought him in frequent conflict with the Communist regime. Fortunately, two of his poetry collections are available in English: Cry of a Former Dog (translated by Ludmilla G. … Continue reading Bulgarian Poetry in English Translation (III/1): the period 1944-1989 – Konstantin Pavlov
Balchik is a small coastal town at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, approximately 30 kilometers north of Varna. A century ago, it was not much more than a fishing village, but its natural location at a small bay, its Mediterranean climate and its picturesque houses and small streets made it a magnet for the Romanian … Continue reading Marina Konstantinova: The White Coast – A Review by Thomas Hübner
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 