Zdravka Evtimova
BULGARIA
Zdravka Evtimova (1959) is a Bulgarian author and literary translator. She has published six novels and eight short story collections. Her literary work has been translated into over 10 languages, while her short stories have been published in 32 countries around the world, making her a unique exemplary from the Bakan literature . Evtimova, with her rich prose opus, is considered to be one of the focal authors in the Bulgarian contemporary prose. For her work, she was awarded several national and international prizes. She has translated over 25 novels from English, working with genres such as fantasy and fiction.
Her short story “Vasil” was awarded for the best short story at a competition organized by the BBC Radio London in 2005. That same year, her short story “It’s your turn” was one of the ten award-winning stories in the world on the topic “Utopia 2005” in Nantes, France.
In 2015, her short story "Blood from a Mole" was included in the English language textbooks for the high school syllabus in Denmark. As of 2019, the same short story was included in the literature curriculum for junior high schools in the United States of America.
Her short story “Seldom” is included in the anthology Best European Fiction 2015 by Dalkey Archive Press.
She has also received:
- The “Chudomir” award for the best humorous story,
- Тhe “Golden Chain” for the best Bulgarian short story of the year (two-time winner),
- The literary prize for prose “Ana Kamenova”,
- The international prize “Balkanika” 2024 – for the best book by a Balkan writer with her collection "Pernik Stories",
- The award “Blaga Dimitrova”,
- The Best Novel Awards for her book “The Same River” in 2015,
- The “Zapkov” Award for the Most Read Book in Bulgaria,
- The "Hristo G. Danov" award for overall contribution
In 2021 Zdravka Evtimova was voted for the best Bulgarian author by the viewers of the Bulgarian National Television.
Zdravka lives in Pernik with her husband. She has two sons, a daughter and grandchildren. She speaks English, French, German and Russian.
Just like a smoker can’t be without a cigarette or an addict without drugs, that’s how a writer can’t be without words.” Zdravka Evtimova says that she has to write because she lives through the lives of her characters which makes her lifetime last for over 3 000 years.
Четвъртък (Thursday)
Translation to Macedonian: Duško Krstevski
Antolog, Skopje, 2014
The novel talks about the lives of four women in present-day Bulgaria. The father of the overweight girl named Simona cannot write in Bulgarian, but he reigns over the whole region by selling people second-hand clothes, bad alcohol, TVs, condoms, metal structures, everything. A true dealer from the transition. He has a tough competition, that ensures for him to be shot in front of his home.The daughter inherits the "empire" of bars, dairies, debts, which she manages with the same fervor as the father, turning the entire town's population into her own enslaved peasants.This is a novel about the destructive power of money, a novel about hunger and a novel about love, which, despite everything – betrayals and bribes – remains alive.
Една иста река
Translation to Macedonian: Duško Krstevski
Antolog, Skopje, 2018
A realistic, subtly critical, and at the same time, brutally honest and comical novel, which reveals the stories of three sisters: Ljuba, Sara and Pirina. The poetics of the marginalized layers of contemporary society. The sisters live in a small village near the Bulgarian town of Pernik. Living on the edge of misery, Pirina sings, although in her songs there is no melody, no words, they heal sadness; Sarah often changes partners, and one of them even builds her a church! Ljuba reads so much that she is absent from everyday life and that makes her attractive in some illogical but interesting way. We never step into the same river twice. A novel in which the river flows not as the universe has decided, but where the characters lead it.
Other translations:
“The ark” (translation to Macedonian: Branko Cvetkoski), Makavej, Skopje, 2017.
“Pernik stories” (translation to Macedonian: Duško Krstevski), Magor, Skopje, 2020.