The Bulgarian poet and writer Georgi Gospodinov was born in 1968. His first volume of poetry \u00bbLapidarium\u00ab (1992) won the national prize for best d\u00e9but. It was followed by \u00bbChereshata na edin narod\u00ab (1996; tr: The Cherry Tree of One People), which was awarded the Best Book of the Year Prize from the Bulgarian Writers\u2019 Union.
Gospodinov earned international recognition with his first novel \u00bbEstestven roman\u00ab (1999; Eng. \u00bbNatural Novel\u00ab, 2005). The \u00bbNew Yorker\u00ab described it as an \u00bbanarchic, experimental debut\u00ab and \u00bbThe Times\u00ab as a \u00bbhumorous, melancholy and highly idiosyncratic work\u00ab. The novel follows post-modern structuring principles and takes up the narrative techniques of Borges and Pessoa. The framework of the plot \u2013 the story of a man who leaves his wife because he is not the creator for her pregnancy \u2013 is infused with loosely connected multiple story lines, digressions, and different levels of reflection. The short story collection \u00bbI drugi istorii\u00ab (2001; Eng. \u00bbAnd Other Stories\u00ab, 2007) traces the mysteries of everyday life by describing tragicomic scenes. His novel \u00bbFisika na tagata\u00ab (2011; Eng. \u00bbThe Physics of Sorrow\u00ab, 2015) won the Jan Michalski Prize and was finalist for Br\u00fccke Berlin Preis and Haus der Kulturen der Welt Literaturpreis. In the novel, Gospodinov\u2019s narrative arc spans the entire 20th century, mixing meaningful and sparkling episodes with historical artifacts and mythology, thereby finding a literary image for fragile biographies. In the story collection \u00bbI vsichko stana luna\u00ab (2013; tr: And It All Became a Moon) Gospodinov\u2019s title story deals with the time it takes for the light of the sun to reach the earth and ironically communicates his thoughts about the end of the world, telling of the feelings of loneliness and homelessness and showing off burlesque thought games.
Gospodinov also writes plays and screenplays (such as \u00bbThe Ritual\u00ab within the eastern European film production \u00bbLost and Found\u00ab, which was the opening film at the International Forum of Young Cinema at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival). \u00bbBlind Vaysha\u00ab, a short animation based on Gospodinov\u2019s short story, was an Oscar Academy Award nominee for 2017. In 2006 Gospodinov edited the book \u00bbAz zhiviakh sotsializma\u00ab (2006; tr: I\u2019ve Lived under Socialism), the result of a two-year internet project gathering stories of ordinary people\u2019s experiences under socialism. He continued his work in this field with \u00bbInventarna kniga na sotsializma\u00ab (2006; tr: An Inventory of Socialism; with Yana Genova), a catalogue of Bulgarian objects from everyday life before 1989. Gospodinov is affiliated to the Institute for Literature, BAS, Sofia, with a PhD in literary history. He has been awarded with many writer\u2019s fellowships (Berliner K\u00fcnstlerprogramm des DAAD, New York Public Library fellowship at the Cullman Center, Literaturhaus Z\u00fcrich, etc.). In 2019\/20, he is fellow at WIKO Berlin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88251,"template":"","jct-role":[1080],"jct-origin":[576,495],"jct-ilb-years":[599,602,606,613],"class_list":["post-39715","authors","type-authors","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","jct-role-author","jct-origin-bulgaria","jct-origin-germany","jct-ilb-years-2005-en","jct-ilb-years-2008-en","jct-ilb-years-2012-en","jct-ilb-years-2019-en"],"yoast_head":"\n