Panel of Judges 2008
BULGARIAN NOVEL OF THE YEAR

 

Milena Kirova is Professor of Bulgarian Literature at Sofia University. She lectures on Theory and History of Psychoanalytic Criticism.

Milena Kirova specialises in the theory of psychoanalysis in England and Switzerland. She also lectured on the history of Bulgarian literature at the University of California. The professor is an author of much research in the field of humanitarian science, particularly in literature:  Bulgarian Poetry from the Liberation to the First World War (1988), Medusa’s Dream (1995, 1997), Test of Symbols (1997; 2006), Yordan Yovkov. Myths and Mythology (2001) and the study The Body, the Unnailing, a co-project with Emiliya Dvoryanova, Là Velata (1998), Criticism of the Change. New Phenomena and Directions in Bulgarian Literature from the End of 20th Century (2002), The Problematic Realism (2002), The Biblical Woman. Mechanisms of Construction, Depiction Policies of the Old Testament (2005).

She is a co-compiler of many collections of scientific papers and contributes with studies, articles and reviews to specialised periodicals.

 

 

 

Professor Svetlozar Igov is one of the best specialists in classic and modern philosophy and literature studies.

He is actively involved in operational criticism. He works in the field of literature: poetry, fiction, fragments, aphorisms, essays, playwrights. The professor is also a well known translator and author of anthologies.

Svetlozar Igov was born in near Sofia. He graduated from Sofia University in Slavic Studies. Later, he specialised in Slavic Literature in Belgrade and Zagreb. From 1967 to 1969 he lectured at Sofia University and from 1985 – at Plovdiv University. Svetlozar Igov was an editor of Literaturen Forum, Savremennik Magazine and editor in chief of Ezik i Literatura Magazine. He worked at the Institute of Art Studies at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Literature at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

 

 

 

Kristina Patrashkova is a journalist who has worked for a long time a key Bulgarian newspapers such as 24 Hours, Sega, Monitor and until recently hosted the Stories with Patrashkova TV show, broadcast on TV2.

She has interviewed some of the most famous people in cinema and literature like Francis Ford Coppola, Kurt Vonnegut, Umberto Eco. She also visited Cannes Film Festival as a journalist for ten consecutive years.

She has authored of hundreds of articles in the field of culture. Nowadays Mrs. Patrashkova is a deputy editor in chief of one of the most popular Bulgarian newspapers – Weekend.

 

 

 

Georgi Tenev was born in 1969 in Sofia. He is an author of fiction, poetry and drama. In 1994 he graduated from the experimental class of Margarita Mladenova and Ivan Dobchev at National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. He was awarded the Herder Scholarship by Konstantin Iliev - the Bulgarian winner of the Herder Prize and continued his education at University of Vienna.

Georgi Tenev is a co-founder of Triumviratus Art Group (1994), together with director Yavor Gardev and screenplay writer Nikola Toromanov. At the 1999 Berlin Festival, he was awarded the Grand Prix Europa — Best European Radio Drama Prize for his co-project The Atoll (together with Yavor Gardev and composer Assen Avramov). His texts have been staged in Germany (Leipzig, 1998), France (Paris, 2004, Nance, 2003), Russia (Saint Petersburg, 2004).

He has published the books Resident’s Fear of Recall (2001), The Citadel (2001) and the novels The Child Prodigy. Book One: Variations of Karamazov (2004) and Party Headquarters (2006) which won the Vick Prize for Bulgarian Novel of the Year.