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Round table of Russian and Bulgarian writers
On April, 23, the opening day of the IV St.Petersburg Book Salon-2009 (Bulgaria was the honorary guest), the 7th pavilion of LenExpo hosted Round table of Russian and Bulgarian writers. Russia was represented by the famous Russia writer Andrei Bitov, President of Russian PEN-center, double winner of the State Premium; St. Petersburg prosaic Valery Popov, Chairman of St. Petersburg Division of the Union of Writers; Andrei Ariev, co-editor of the magazine “Zvezda” and the writer Sergei Nosov. Bulgaria was represented by Georgi Mikhov, General Consul of the Republic of Bulgaria in St. Petersburg; Maria Stankova, the famous Bulgarian writer, poet, play and script writer; Mitko Novkov, cultural scientist, writer of political essays, literary critic and journalist; the prosaic Palmi Ranchev and the poet Silvia Choleva. The round table was conducted by Marina Smirnova, Executive Director of the International Association “Live classics”.
The round table rose the following questions: when the cultural dialogue between Russia and Bulgaria was interrupted, whether cultural figures need the state support for its renewal, what role the writer plays in Russia and Bulgaria, what writers could do to strengthen cultural links between two countries.
Georgi Mikhov, General Consul of the Republic of Bulgaria in St. Petersburg stated that the conduction of that round table is the serious step towards renewal of relationships between Russian and Bulgarian writers. Mitko Novkov, cultural scientist, writer of political essays, literary critic and journalist said that Bulgaria is quite aware of the modern Russian literature, such authors as Victor Pelevin, Vladimir Sorokin, Tatiana Tolstaya are rather well readable. Bulgaria issues the magazine “Fakel” which publishes the modern Russian writers, recently it has published the translation of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya’s novel “Time is night”. Andrei Ariev, co-editor of the magazine “Zvezda” stated that some time ago separate sections of the magazine were devoted to Bulgarian literature. But it was not the Bulgarian literature read and valued by the Bulgarians themselves. The magazine “Zvezda” published only Bulgarian detective stories and light texts. The question rose whether Russia and Bulgaria had the true cultural dialogue when Bulgaria was a part of the Socialist camp. Mitko Novikov supposed that Bulgarian and Russian literatures are developing along the same way, but the Bulgarian authors opposed that contrary to Russian literature where the poetry is not demanded today, Bulgarian poetry is quite relevant. Maria Stankova, the famous Bulgarian writer, poet, play and script writer put forward a project to publish “forgotten” Russian authors both in Bulgaria and Russia, this proposal was cordially supported by the Russia writer Andrei Bitov. The writers also discussed the issue of literary awards, the audience asked questions about the life of Bulgarian writers, circulation of their books, royalties, foreign translations and role of literary agents. The round table finished by contact exchange between the Russian and Bulgarian writers aimed at continuation the started dialogue.
The round table was organized by the International Association “Live classics”
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