site.btaBulgarian Translators of Western Balkan Literature Presented in Sofia

An event called, Evenings of Balkan Poetry: Western Balkans, was held at the Delta Blues Bar in Sofia on Wednesday evening, presenting five translators of poetry and prose from Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian and Albanian to Bulgarian.

The featured translators were Levena Filcheva and Lyudmila Mindova, as well as three journalists from the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA): Magdalena Dimitrova, Simona-Alex Mihaleva and Tsvetozar Tsakov.

The organizers of the event, poets Hristo Mukhtanov and Ana Tsankova, told BTA that they have been organizing literary events at the Delta Blues Bar since the autumn of 2019. They said that in recent years their focus has been on themed evenings dedicated to writers and poets who are no longer with us. "We believe they should not be forgotten," Tsankova stressed.

"Now, for the first time, we decided to hold a Balkan evening with translators. Until now, we had only done one evening of translated poetry – with works by Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath," Mukhtanov said. According to him, there are many formats in Sofia for contemporary authors, but these events are different because they focus on poets from the past and on translators "who are often neglected."

Among the evenings already held are those dedicated to Viktor Paskov, Geo Milev, Ivan Metodiev and Kalina Kovacheva.

"When we held an evening for Maria Virkhov, a few months later one of her books, which had not been reissued for years, was republished. The same happened with the poetess Danila Stoyanova – after our event, her only book was reissued 15 years after its first edition," Tsankova said.

The two organizers see these evenings not just as cultural events but as a cause. "Yes, it may sound idealistic, but we do it because we love literature and believe that it has meaning," Tsankova said. "We do not receive anything material from this. We simply believe that these poets should not sink into oblivion. People must read and preserve their history and their people," she added.

Mukhtanov summed up: "We think that there is a very subtle connection between Bulgarian and Balkan poetry, a shared mentality and traditions. This is exactly what we want to show in our new evenings."

The event featured translations of works by Bosnian authors Gojko Djogo, Marko Tomas and Drasko Sikimic; Slovenian authors Ales Debeljak and Ivan Cankar; Albanian author Ismail Kadare; Kosovar authors Besnik Tsamai, Ndricim Ademaj and Rexhep Hoti; and Serbian author Branko Ristic.