site.btaWriter Kalin Terziyski Dies Aged 55

Bulgarian writer Kalin Terziyski died on the evening of January 22 at the age of 55, his brother, Svetoslav, said in a Facebook post. 

Kalin Terziyski was born on March 22, 1970, in Sofia. He graduated from the Acad. Luybomir Chakalov National High School of Science and Mathematics in 1988. Around this time, he began writing his first poems. In 1996, Terziyski graduated in Medicine from the Higher Medical Institute in Sofia (now the Medical University of Sofia), and later specialized in Psychiatry at the St Ivan Rilski State Psychiatric Hospital.

He was a columnist and commentator for Biograph, Eva, Trud, 24 Chasa, OffNews, and Deutsche Welle, to name but a few. 

In 2000, he left his medical career to focus entirely on writing. From 1996 to 2010, he worked as a screenwriter for comedy shows on Bulgarian National Television, Darik Radio, bTV, and Nova TV.

In March 2010, Terziyski, together with a group of screenwriters, founded the Association of Bulgarian Television Screenwriters. He was also one of the founders of the Association of Writers in Bulgaria.

Terziyski was the author of novels, short story collections, and poetry. His first solo poetry collection, Salt, was published in 2008. His first novel, Alcohol, co-written with Deyana Dragoeva, came out in 2010 and won the Helikon Flower Award for best-selling book of the year. Works by him have been translated into English, Spanish, Italian, German, Romanian, and other languages.

In addition to writing, Terziyski held several art exhibitions. Reflecting on his art, he told the Bulgarian News Agency in 2018: "Each of my paintings comes from love and is about love. I hold exhibitions every two or three years to show people what my thoughts are at the moment, how far I have progressed, or how my thoughts are moving in general."

Over the course of his career, Terziyski received numerous awards, including Bulgaria’s first European Prize for Literature for his collection of short stories Is There Anybody to Love You.