When looking back, can you clearly see the importance of the Bulgarian book for you?

Emotional, moving memories about the Bulgarian book. The year 1938. A poor village, without electricity, without a road. Without a radio. But we were hungry for books, i.e. hungry for information. In the cultural center there were about a dozen of shabby books by Angel Karaliichev, Ivan Vazov. Later in my life, I became acquainted with great authors with magnetic power but my love for the Bulgarian children’s book still warms me.

What is the destiny of fine letters now, and what could this destiny be in the near and in the more distant future?

Fine letters will revive after the death of the technical revolution.

The cultural crisis of today has its causes and its signs, but it also has a remedy that is basically universal. Perhaps, the purely Bulgarian specifics of this remedy remain out of focus?

The cultural crisis in Bulgaria follows a scenario. The poisoners giggle at the nurses. Pseudo-democracy sets criminals free. Like the state, like the culture.

There are many secrets to a book, and the author’s mastership tends to be among the most obscure. Have you reached a conscious explanation for yourself of everything that you have created – as creative art, besides a pure will, is also the product of the artist’s instincts, of the artist’s enigmatic and mysterious self that he deciphers only partially in his texts to the reader?

There is no mystery in our books, no far-reaching thoughts about the future, intuition is replaced by practical mind. The Bulgarian is a narrow-minded man and does not impress Europe. Authors take pride in being sons of the people, but none has inspired the tormented people.

What is your vision of Bulgaria at the end of the 21st century? What does Time mean to you?

I see Bulgaria as a wretched pseudo-republic, gnawed by corruption. The market economy that was forced on us by bandits will continue to afflict ailing Bulgaria. Deprived of morals, Bulgaria will not think about books, the way a man choked by smog and radiation can only think about finding a gas mask.
The Bulgarians will be a minority, young people will continue to emigrate. Culture will be driven into bars, discos and bingo halls. Books will be servants to computers. Time is a river – it flows inexorably. And “you cannot wade into the same river twice” (Heraclitus).

What is the weight of the values created over the last hundred years, and what is the burden that these years have placed on us?

Bulgaria of the 20th century will remain in our cultural history as the country that produced authors like Vazov, Yavorov, Elin Pelin, a country that built St Alexander Nevski cathedral, the Courts of Justice, the Ministry of Defense – not to mention the thousands of schools, cultural centers and churches. And all that was due to the much criticized royal regime.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the destiny of the Balkans and mankind, and why?

The destiny of the Balkans is in the hands of the rich (great) powers. It is up to them. We can only continue to organize rallies.

What would you choose – if you had to choose today – between a bag of gold and an eternal book? And what would have been your choice 30 years ago?

The Bible.

Do you think that in these times when the path to the reader is difficult and uncertain, new names could emerge? Could the experience with your own public recognition be useful today? How did you gain recognition, was it easy?

The new names will perish without advertising, while we will get bored with the advertised stars and will ignore them. Television and computers are now the masters.

Boris Dimovski illustrates the books of Radoy Ralin and Marko Ganchev. He wrote his answers while in hospital, that is why there are no answers to some of the questions.
We thank him!