site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian Poetess Eketarina Yosifova Awarded Posthumously Prize for Poetry

Bulgarian Poetess Eketarina Yosifova Awarded Posthumously Prize for Poetry
Bulgarian Poetess Eketarina Yosifova Awarded Posthumously Prize for Poetry
Ekaterina Yosifova's daughter Mila receiving the prize, Apr. 1, 2023 (BTA Photo)

Ekaterina Yosifova was awarded posthumously the annual Konstantin Pavlov Poetry Award. The prize was awarded for the second time and the ceremony took place Saturday evening at the Sofia City Art Gallery (SCAG).

Jury Chair prof. Mihail Nedelchev noted that the year 2023 marks poet Konstantin Pavlov's 90th birth anniversary. He said the jubilee was also an inspiration to the choice of an awardee. 

The Konstantin Pavlov Poetry Award was presented by the founder of the award - the journalist and long-time head of the Bulgarian editorial office of Deutsche Welle Radio Rumyana Taslakova, to Ekaterina Yosifova's daughter Mila. "I am glad that you have the opportunity to accept this award for your mother, whom I knew, who is a great, great poet and I am glad that the jury has made this decision this year," Taslakova said. "There is nothing superfluous in her poetry. Over the years, Katya [Ekaterina] has stripped herself of everything external that might prevent her from becoming one with the truth," she added. 

Alexander Shurbanov, a member of the jury, made the proposal that the prize be awarded posthumously to the poetess.

Shubanov said that Ekaterina Yossifova was first and foremost a poet of intimate experience, but her fateful attachment to the truth filled her work with a civic vigilance, bringing her closer to the uncompromising rebellious poetry of Konstantin Pavlov, whom she held in high esteem and with whom she communicated, he noted.

It was not easy for the jury to make their choice. We read over 50 newly published poetry books and collections of poetry and more than one or two moved us in one way or another, said Mirela Ivanova, who was also part of the jury. "The memory of poetry and the great presence of Konstantin Pavlov obliged us to be very uncompromising in our choices, especially now that we are on the eve of his 90th birthday tomorrow [April 2]," she added.

Konstantin Pavlov's poems were recited by actors Rusi Chanev and Plamen Dimov. Musician Hristo Ovcharov also took part in the event.

Born in Kyustendil, Southwestern Bulgaria, and a graduate in Russian studies from Sofia University, Ekaterina Yosifova worked as a teacher and an editor. She wrote ten collections of poems and several prose books. Works of hers have been anthologized in Austria, Britain, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Russia, the US, Hungary, France, the Netherlands, Croatia, Turkey and other countries. 

The poetess held a number of important literary prizes, including the 1984 Annual Award for Poetry of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, an award of the Association of Bulgarian Writers in 1998, the Ivan Nikolov Award for lifetime achievement in 1999, and the Grand Prix for Literature of Sofia University in 2014.

/YV/

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By 03:46 on 29.03.2024 Today`s news

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