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Georgi Gospodinov

Georgi Gospodinov

area: Literature

© Dafinka Stoilova

Key Facts

nationality

Bulgaria

area

Literature

residence

Sofia

recommending institution

BMeiA

time period

February 2014 - March 2014

Georgi Gospodinov (1968) is a poet, writer and playwright, one of the most translated Bulgarian authors after 1989.
He has published four poetry books awarded with national literary prizes. His poems were selected for many international anthologies, among which New European Poets (Graywolf Press, USA, 2008) and A Fine Line. New Poetry from Eastern & Central Europe (Arc Publications, GB, 2004). A volume of his selected poetry, Kleines morgendliches Verbrechen (Droschl Verlag), came out in Austria in 2010

His Natural Novel has been published in 21 languages abroad, including English (Dalkey Archive, USA, 2005), German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Turkish, etc. The novel was praised by the The New Yorker, Village Voice, NY Times, Guardian, Times, NZZ.  The German edition, Natuerlicher Roman (Droschl, 2007), was qualified as a “small and elegant masterpiece” (FAZ) and its author as a “humorist of desperation” (NZZ).

Gospodinov’s collection of short stories And Other Stories (2001), came out in German, French, English, Italian… In 2007, the English version of the collection (NU Press, USA, 2007) was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award. Gospodinov’s stories were included in the anthologies Best European Fiction 2010 (Dalkey Archive Press, USA); So, What Kept You? New Stories Inspired by Anton Chekhov & Raymond Carver (Flambard Press, UK, 2006)

Gospodinov has written two plays “D.J.” (the initials of Don Juan, 2004) and “The Apocalypse Comes at 6 pm” (2010). Both plays received national awards for best dramatic text of the respective year. In 2011, “The Apocalypse…” was chosen among 300 plays for the International theatre festival hotINK at the LARK, New York, and had a rehearsed reading at the Nottingham theatre festival (NEAT).

Gospodinov is author of screenplays for short feature films, the last of which is Omelette (4.44’; Honorable Mention at the Sundance Film Festival 2009). He published an art graphic novel, The Eternal Fly (2010, with the artist N. Toromanov).
His new novel, Physics of Sorrow, appeared in December 2011 and for several weeks stood at the head of Bulgarian Top 10 bestselling books.
Gospodinov’s most recent book is The Invisible Crises, a collection of essays (2013). Some of his essays were published in NZZ, Tagesspiegel, SPRITZ, Wespennest, etc.

Georgi Gospodinov is PhD in Bulgarian literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he was guest writer of Berlin with one-year fellowship of Berliner Kuenstlerprogramm, DAAD. In 2012 he acquired an Andrew Mellon fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
He lives and works in Sofia, Bulgaria, with his wife and six-year-old daughter.


Selected books:

Books in German

Kleines morgendliches Verbrechen, translated by Alexander Sitzmann, Valeria Jaeger und Uwe Kolbe, Droschl Verlag, Graz, 2010
Natürlicher Roman, translated by Alexander Sitzmann, Droschl, Graz, 2007
Gaustín oder Der Mensch mit den vielen Namen, aus dem Bulgarischen von Alexander Sitzmann, Wieser Verlag, Wien, 2004


Books in English:

Natural Novel, Dalkey Archive Press, 2005
And Other Stories, Northwestern University Press, 2007

Books in French

Un roman naturel, traduit du bulgare par Marie Vrinat, Phebus, Paris, 2002
L’alphabet des femmes, traduit du bulgare par Marie Vrinat, Arlea, Paris, 2003

Books in Italian

Romanzo naturale, translated by Daniela Di Sora, Irina Stoilova, Roma: Voland, Italy, 2007
…e altre storie, translated by Giuseppe Dell’Agata, Roma: Voland edizioni, Italy, 2008
Physics of Sorrow, translated by Giuseppe Dell’Agata, Roma: Voland edizioni, expected in April 2013.

Projectinfo

Black Sea and its region have already been a theme in my writing. My essay “The State of Chernomoria” (The Black Sea State) was written on the occasion of Odessa Transfer, a discussion at Literarisches Colloquium Berlin organized by Katharina Raabe (Suhrkamp Verlag).
The ‘invisible states’ and ‘invisible geographies’ – like the State of Chernomoria, the Danube Europe, etc. – go beyond the national borders and national mythologies. This is what I would like to write about during my stay in quartier21.
Apart from this I would like to finish a book with very short stories.
In 2014, my last novel, Physics of Sorrow, is expected to be published in German by Droschl Verlag (Graz, Austria).

Documentation

I spent two months, February and March 2014, in quartier21. For me, this was a very useful and intensive time.
In the early 2014, my novel, Physik der Schwermut, came out in German, in the Austrian publishing house Droschl. It had a good critical response in NZZ, Cicero, Kleine Zeitung, Der Freitag, etc. I had readings in Graz (Literaturhaus), Wien (Hauptbücherei and Haus Witgenstein), and Salzburg. During the same period, I worked on my poetry manuscript, I had enough time to edit and prepare it for publication.
quartier21 is a great place, live, at the heart of the city, close to all museums, libraries, etc. So I find it perfect for any writer or artist.

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