site.btaLetters Connect Bulgarians Across Places, Generations Through Shared Books, Says BTA Director General

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev attended the opening the initiative "Literature in the Present Time" in Varna on Tuesday - the second stage of the "Literature is not a museum" campaign, launched by the Faculty of Slavic Philology of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, aimed at presenting the literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. He said that letters connect Bulgarians in different places and at different times, while they read the same books, including in new ways with the old letters. Valchev added that the meaning of letters is to reach a higher level of knowledge than the knowledge of mortal life.

In his words, "the bookless soul in people is a dead thing," as it is written in Proclamation to the Gospel - a poem preface to the first complete Old Bulgarian translation of the Four Gospels. Valchev pointed out that this is an important reminder that man has a soul, for which the media must also take care, with a place for intangible values.  According to him, the event "Literature in the Present Time" is an example of the most important meaning of written signs, embedded in the first image of the Bulgarian letters, created by the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, whose memory is celebrated on May 11. 

As part of the initiative, hosted by BTA, through its press clubs in Varna, Dobrich, Pleven, Sofia, Shumen and Stara Zagora, students read contemporary Bulgarian works, with the agency providing the connection between them live online on its YouTube channel and Facebook page. Also participating are the regional libraries in Burgas, Varna, Ruse, Pleven, Stara Zagora and Haskovo and the National Community Center Dobri Voynikov - 1856 in Shumen and the House Museum Yordan Yovkov in Dobrich with the support of the online platforms I Read, Storytel and Queen's. 

BTA is a natural home for the initiative to read contemporary Bulgarian literature, because its essence is to connect places and times through news from 128 years from all over Bulgaria and the world, said Valchev. He recalled that Bulgaria's national news agency already has 46 national press clubs in Bulgaria and abroad, including the traveling National Book Press Club during book fairs in various places in the country in partnership with the Bulgarian Book Association.