site.btaSofia Book Alley Returns on September 8

The annual Book Alley fair will take place between September 8 to 14 and will be located along Vitosha Boulevard and in the park in front of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, said the organizers from the Bulgarian Book Association.

They also added that the official opening will take place on September 8 at 10:30 am and will begin with a special musical greeting to visitors.

The programme includes seven consecutive days of meetings with authors, book presentations, children's story readings, and film screenings.

Sixty-one tents will house the open-air exhibition, bringing together over 150 Bulgarian publishers presenting their latest, most interesting, and most sought-after titles.

The event is part of the Sofia Municipality's Cultural Calendar for 2025.

“On the one hand, we want to promote Bulgarian literature, and on the other, we want to give Bulgarian authors a platform so that they can continue to create,” Dani Furnadzhieva, member of the board of the Bulgarian Book Association, told a BTA reporter on the occasion of the launch of the Book Alley.

“The most important thing for the Association is to promote Bulgarian books and show how important reading is for people's personal development,” she added, noting that this year's exhibition features a large number of Bulgarian authors presenting their books and work, such as Elena Alexieva, children's writer Petya Kokudeva, Milen Halyov, Katya Antonova, Zachary Karabashliev, Emil Minchev, Nikolay Terziyski, Rosen Petrov, and many others.

All of them will be present at their publishers' tents. Some of them will be in the literary corner, where they will be able to have more in-depth conversations with their readers and, of course, sign autographs for their fans, noted Dani Furnadzhieva.

According to her, one of the main highlights is the international participation of the author of Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky, who will meet with readers on September 9.

The Bulgarian Book Association has always been guided by the motto that books should go to people, not the other way around, because of the dynamics of everyday life, said Furnadzhieva, adding that these meetings are very important, as are the readers who identify with the stories, who “step into the authors' shoes” and become part of their world.

She added that these meetings are also important for publishers, thanks to whom literary projects are realized. 

“We have a very strong focus on children's literature. We are working to nurture readers. The entire Association's network has extremely innovative and modern publications for children, which is why we welcome young readers with a number of events in our cultural programme,” Furnadzhieva noted.