site.btaTheodora Dimova Wins Helikon Literary Award

Theodora Dimova is this year's winner of the Helikon Literary Award. She won the prize with her novel "I Don't Know You". The author received the statuette "The Eagle of Helikon" at a ceremony one of the Helikon bookstores in Sofia Thursday evening.

The prize is awarded for the author's "emotional dive into the bleak socio-political realities of our modern times, done with panache and moral courage", said poet and journalist Boyko Lambovski, who was part of the jury. 

"I Don't Know You" is a kind of continuation of "The Defeated", said Theodora Dimova. She said the connection between the novels is mostly thematic. "The first explores an old wound, the second - a new wound. That's what's different. The old wound has healed. It hasn't healed, but it's not bleeding anymore. It's numb and therefore not as painful. The new wound is painful. The slightest touch to it causes severe pain. I felt such pain while writing because this pain is also in me," the writer added. 

At the end of the ceremony, jury chair Prof. Kiril Topalov received a Helikon badge for his 80th birthday.