site.btaWriter Christopher Buxton Writes about Mysteries in History

Bulgarian-based British writer Christopher Buxton says that he writes about mysteries in history and some persons "who do not deserve to be forgotten". He spoke to BTA's Gergana Nikolova while in Sofia for the largest traveling outdoor literary exhibition, the Book Alley. There he presented his book, Deliverance, and signed books for readers.

Deliverance focuses on the relationship between Bulgarian history and the present. What he actually wanted to write, was a book about Tsar Svetoslav Terter, whom Buxton finds a very interesting person. He was very much affected by the fact that his father, greedy for power, divorced his mother, that he was sent twice as a hostage, the second time to the Tatars, to live in some desolate field in winter, the writer said.

According to the author, history is full of blank spots that need to be filled in a realistic way. He said that his books are entirely based on facts. However, he also remarked that the sources about Bulgarian medieval history are not Bulgarian, but are mostly Byzantine and Norse.

What impressed him most when he first came to Bulgaria in 1977 was the lack of good books about Bulgarian history. During the tenure of Todor Zhivkov - Bulgaria's long-serving totalitarian ruler - there were no books on Bulgarian history to be found in bookstores, he noted. "There were a few things about guerilla partisans, there were speeches by Todor Zhivkov, there was something about the Leipzig trial [of communist leader Georgi Dimitrov], there was something written by the [Englishwoman] Mercia McDermott, whom I knew. After a while, volumes came out by Prof. Zlatarski, which helped me a lot when I wrote my first book about a mystery and a love story," the author recalled.

Apart from writing, Christopher Buxton also translates Bulgarian books in English and edits translations, including East - in Eaden by Izabela Shopova, Be My Friend by Julia Spiridonova and Mission London by Alec Popov, the Znaci [Signs] publishing house said.

"There is interest in Bulgarian literature in the English-speaking world, I would say, but the whole thing is very difficult because of the lack of support, I think, first from publishers in Bulgaria, but mostly from the Bulgarian government," Buxton noted. 

He remembered participating in an event in London focusing on Balkan literature, where he had presented a lecture on Bulgaria. "There were speakers from Turkiye, from Albania, from Romania, and myself. And I think [authors] Alec Popov and Kapka Kasabova were also there. Just to give you an example - about 20 people came from the Romanian Embassy, and about as many from the Albanian embassy. The number of people from the Bulgarian Embassy was zero. I do not mean to criticize because I know Svetla Dionisieva [the head of the Bulgarian Culture Institute in London] very well. She is a fantastic woman who is fighting in England for Bulgarian culture. But she is somewhat isolated. And she was sent on other assignments that day, otherwise she would have been there," said Buxton. He noted that there were "seeds of hope" as the subject is being raised more frequently, including at events such as the International Book Fair and the Book Alley in Sofia." 

He hopes that the success of Georgi Gospodinov, who won the International Booker Prize in 2023 together with translator Angela Rodel for his novel Time Shelter, will "open the door a little" for other Bulgarian writers "because they have great qualities".

Buxton studied English and American literature at the University of Kent, after which he became a teacher in English. He has worked as a teacher in the UK, Portugal, Norway and Bulgaria. 

He arrived in Bulgaria in 1977 and married a Bulgarian woman in the Black Sea city of Burgas. He learned Bulgarian and is a prolific reader of Bulgarian literature and history.

He is the author of historical novels in a Bulgarian context: Far from the Danube, Radoslava and the Viking Prince and Surge. More recent history is reflected in The Devil’s Notebook and the satirical black comedy Prudence and the Red Baron. He has written two children’s novels, The Princess Commander and The Seven Scallywags and In the Desert beyond the Labyrinth.