site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria Begins Second Participation in The London Book Fair

The Bulgarian section of The London Book Fair 2025 was unveiled by Vice President Iliana Iotova and Culture Minister Marian Bachev on Tuesday. Yotova has provided her auspices for the Bulgarian participation in the event. The fair is taking place at the Olympia exhibition centre between March 11 and 13.

The Vice President said in her opening address that the fair provides an occasion to show that "Bulgaria was not born at the tip of a spear but emerged from the forces of writing, books and culture." "The golden ages of the Bulgarian state can serve as a model for Europe," she added, quoted by the President's Press Secretariat.

Iotova went on to comment: "We are living in a very dangerous world in which diplomacy is losing ground to war. This makes culture and knowledge even more important, particularly the knowledge of others, which means understanding others as borders and prejudices are removed. Books and creativity can touch the fine cords of the human soul to bring out virtue, an exclusively human asset."

Bulgaria has joined the annual event for the second year in a row with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the cooperation of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in London (BCIL).

Culture Minister Bachev said, as quoted by his ministry: "Presenting our national literature at a prestigious international forum is a mission." This mission, he added, has received strong impetus in recent years.

Bachev thanked the BCIL and other Bulgarian cultural organizations for contributing to the arrangements for the country's participation in the fair alongside the most developed nations in the field of literature and book publishing. He said the Bulgarian section showcases a varied national literature boasting a wealth of talent, ideas and subject matter.

He said visitors will be able to meet Bulgarian authors, translators and publishers. Some of the meetings will be held at the BCIL and at Hatchards, the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom.

The opening of the national section was followed by a presentation of internationally acclaimed author Zdravka Evtimova and Bulgarian-to-English translator Yana Ellis, who engaged in a discussion with BBC journalist Rosie Goldsmith.

The London Book Fair is the world's second-largest book trading event after the one in New York. Since it was founded in 1971, it has grown in scale and importance. It is a global market for the negotiation of rights and the sale and distribution of content in print, audio, TV, film and digital formats. With its presence for the second year in a row, Bulgaria has become an equal partner in presenting the best of world literature, the Culture Ministry said.