October 11th was entirely Polish. Quite naturally. When “Solidarity” was born in 1980, the foundations of the Wall shook. Although mild, this is the first sign that her life is in danger. And when “Solidarity” won the 1989 elections, it was a signal of a foretold end.

“Peace has not been given to us forever, and our meeting today is the hope that division does not stand a chance,” said the Director of the Polish Institute in Bulgaria, Jaroslaw Godun at the opening at the Literature Festival, organized for the 12th time by the IECG. Two books based on texts written more than half a century ago met on the first day. Both are the result of the love of two Bulgarian translators for Polish literature.

“The seventh angel. Poetry in prose” by Zbigniew Herbert is a fine edition. Translated and illustrated by the poet and artist Roman Kisyov, presented by himself, the texts of the Polish poet are a true discovery for fans of poetry in prose, but have also found a new audience.

In 2002 the Polish Jew Roman Polanski told with the language of cinema, a story as touching as it was incredible. But “The Pianist” is a real experience of real people, in real time. When translator Margreta Grigorova watches this movie, she realizes that her dream is to find the written memories of Władysław Szpilman and to receive the rights for its translation. When she receives the rights and begins working on the memories completed by Szpilman in 1947, she sees pictures from the film and hears Chopin’s nocturnal, which sounds at the finale. Something that the Pianist’s readers will also feel. A shared translation of Prof. Margreta Grigorova and Prof. Penka Angelova, because the publication also includes fragments from the diary of Wilm Hosenfeld (Szpilman ‘s last savior) and an afterword by Wolf Burman.

In fact, it is more than a good week for Poland, after Olga Tokarchuk received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018, when earlier she was not awarded because of a scandal with the spouse of a member of the Swedish Academy. And for the International Literature Festival, comes

DAY TWO

October 12

In which Irena Parashkevova and Rumen Mihaylov show what they see “BEYOND THE WALL AND BEYOND THE COLOR”. When the wall rises alone, it divides … connected, they together form, build and close space – a newborn universe. A wall meets a wall … unifying, connecting wall against a wall, building differences, contributing to the loss of community in thinking? Come and see this idea for walls. And more: we will read together excerpts from Tsvetanka Elenkova’s Seventh Gesture II, share with Dorothea Dieckmann a Journey through Harz, find out what those “Names in the Snow” which Ivan Stankov talks about are.

The presented books can be bought at a discount only during the Literature.

The venue is Canetti House, 12 Slavyanska St. in Ruse. We start at 16.00