The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) is pleased to invite you to "CHRISTIANITY AND POETRY. A conversation with Kalin Mihaylov, Tony Nikolov and Rumen Stoyanov". The event will be held on May 21, 2024 (Tuesday) at 15:00 in the building of IBSCT-BAS (Moskovska Street No. 45).
The focus will be on the books "Untimely Christianity: Hearing the Bible in a Secular Age" by Sir Michael Edwards (translated by Tony Nikolov. Sofia, 2023), the poetry books "Two Years - Two Days" (2023) and "Photographer of Clouds" (2022) by Kalin Mihaylov as well as "Zlak" (2012) ) and "Zrak" (2015) by Rumen Stoyanov.
Sir Michael Edwards (born 1938) is an Anglo-French poet and literary critic. He has a PhD from Cambridge. His dissertation was about the work of Jean Racine. Sir Michael Edwards is considered one of the most important contemporary English Christian poets, for which he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014. The main topics in his bilingual work are the connections between language, music, literature and the Bible.
Tony Nikolov is a philosopher and journalist. Chief editor of Portal Kultura and "Kultura" magazine. He specialized at the Pontifical Institute for the East (Rome) and at the School of Advanced Social Sciences (Paris) in the group of Prof. Jacques Le Goff. Tony Nikolov is a member of the International Society for the Study of Medieval Philosophy (S.I.E.P.M) in Louvain. From 2005 to 2009, he was the editor-in-chief of Radio France International - Bulgaria. Author of articles in the field of medieval and modern philosophy, translator of books by J. P. Sartre, J. F. Lyotard, A. Besançon, J. Bernanos, R. Girard, J. Green, Vl. Ghika, K. Virgil Georgiou and on the book of Benedict XVI "Light of the World". Compiler of the four-volume set of essays by Georgi Markov and the unpublished manuscripts of Ivan Hadjiyski. Long-time part-time teacher at SU "St. Kliment Ohridski". Author of the books: "Cracked Bulgaria" ("Hermes", 2015), "The Bulgarian Dilemma" ("Hermes", 2017), "Remembered Sofia" ("Riva", 2021, awarded the Sofia Prize for Literature), "Blenuvana Sofia" ("Riva", 2022), "There is such a country" ("Hermes", 2023), "Unforgotten Sofia" ("Riva", 2023).
Kalin Mihaylov is a literary critic, essayist and poet, professor of ancient and Western European literature at the University of St. Kliment Ohridski". He is the author of four literary books devoted to various aspects of the relationship between Christianity and fiction; of the collection of essays "Forgotten Yeast" (2020); of eight poetry collections published between 1991 and 2023; of the novel "Death has no last word" (2021) and numerous articles in literary and non-literary periodicals. Leads the essay series "Faith, Life, Creativity" in the magazine "Christianity and Culture". He specialized in Faith and Literature in Fribourg, Switzerland (1993–1994), with the support of the Katsarov Foundation, and in Passau, Germany (2002–2003). He is a co-founder member of the "Academic Circle of Comparative Literature" (CALIC-ACCL) and the Bulgarian "Dostoevsky" Society. Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of the Christian Artistic Word "Empyreus". During the period 2012–2014, he was a lecturer in Bulgarian language and culture at the University of Saarland (Germany).
Rumen Stoyanov was born on October 29, 1941 in the village of Draganovo, Veliko Tarnovo region - Bulgarian poet, writer, translator, diplomat, long-time teacher at the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. He was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of the City of Brasilia. He then attended the Sofia State University and the University of Havana. Author of 21 books, 5 of them abroad. He is the translator of the book "100 Years of Solitude" by Marquez and other Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking writers, including Julio Cortázar, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Fernando Pessoa, Vicente Alessandre, and others. He is the author of numerous articles, forewords, afterwords and essays. He is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and the Union of Translators in Bulgaria. He worked in the Bulgarian embassy in Brazil.
We are looking forward to welcoming you!