site.btaBulgarian Writer Georgi Gospodinov Wins Danish Literary Award

ESD 17:10:01 13-08-2021
LN1713ES.113
113 - CULTURE - LITERATURE - GEORGI GOSPODINOV - AWARD

Bulgarian Writer Georgi
Gospodinov Wins Danish
Literary Award


Sofia, 13 August (BTA) - Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov is this year's winner of the Danish literature award Zinklar for his "Blind Vaysha and other stories". A jury of writers and critics said that reading Gospodinov "is like traveling in a time machine offering a mind-expanding journey through the maelstrom of history and the labyrinths of the human mind".

Gospodinov is an internationally recognized poet, writer and playwright, one of the most translated Bulgarian authors after 1989. He gaining his international acclaim with the book "Natural Novel", written in 1999 and translated in 2005.

The Zinklar Prize takes its name from Finn Zinklar (1923-2010), a beloved Danish short story writer who bequeathed most of his fortune to the purpose of the award to promote the short story as a literary genre. It is given every two years since 2013 by the Danish Writers Association to Danish and foreign short story writers. Previous winners of the award are the British writer Julian Barnes, the American storytellers Lidia Davis and Lorrie Moore, and the German novelist Judith Hermann among others.

This year the award will be presented on September 10 at a ceremony in Copenhagen followed by a discussion with the author.

The Zinklar Prize comes with a 100,000 DKK package.

The jury wrote in their motives that Gospodinov's short stories "has pushed the boundaries for what a short story can be and how a story can be told". "In terms of style, genre, and creative space, his tales and stories are characterized by an amazing scope, spanning realism and the fantastic, philosophy, crime stories, and science fiction. It is likewise amazing to experience the sudden, shrewdly surprising shifts in pace or mood that can take place from one sentence to the next. [Е] Reading Gospodinov is like bathing in honey," the motives read as quoted by Gospodinov in his Facebook page.

The award is also a recognition for Helle Dalgaard, the Danish translator of "Blind Vaysha and other stories" as well as all of his novels.