“I was born in Sofia, but when I was 11-years-old my mother made me emigrate to Switzerland and I have been living in Zurich ever since," Victoria Popova told us. In February, she received the Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Award for translation of the novel “Insanity” by Kalin Terziyski in German. The prestigious award was established in 1937 and is named after one of the most significant Swiss writers. The award is for people under 40, residents of Zurich with contribution in the field of fine arts, literature, science... The first winner was Swiss writer and playwright Max Frisch. In the nearly 80-year history of the award, Victoria is among the few women to receive the award and certainly the only Bulgarian woman. For the first time the prize is given for translation. The awarding ceremony was attended by writer Kalin Terziyski. “It was very exciting," Victoria says." We held a literary reading and we presented together parts of his novels ‘Insanity’ and ‘Alcohol’.

While in Bulgaria, Victoria likes writing in her native language. Being in a completely different language environment, she needed to learn several languages at a time​​ – the local dialect, the official languages ​​in Switzerland, Hochdeutsch and English.

“It was a big shock,” she says. "At first I did not understand where I was, I could not express myself. I ‘moved away’ from my mother tongue for about 10 years but it has always stayed with me. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that I have always wanted to write in both languages. This is partly happening in translation. I have never imagined I would become a translator. I graduated from German Philology and comparative literary studies – a science that deals with relationship between languages ​​and literature across national borders. I have always worked in the field of arts. I used to work in the theater as a playwright and assistant director. When I read texts written by Kalin Terziyski, I was emotionally shaken. I realized that some milestones of modern Bulgarian literature should be given the chance to reach other cultures and I started translating. In addition to the first two novels by the writer, I translated ‘Degrad’ – a collection of stories by Vasil Georgiev, ‘Elada Pinyo and Time’ – the first novel by Kerana Angelova, as well as ‘Luizza Hut’ by Toma Markov. The five books I have translated so far are part of the Bulgarian series of the Ink Press Publishing House in Zurich. I think it is absolutely necessary for Bulgarian translations to come out in a series, in order to build a basis for their popularization. I translate authors who live in Bulgaria and write only in Bulgarian – this is the most important criterion for me. I translate works that I find interesting and that amaze me linguistically. These works are exceptional form the point of view of a Bulgarian but they would be exceptional in German as well, because they are quite unique. It is important for me to know what impact they have in countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein. So far, the press and electronic media have published very positive comments about them. Even journalists, who usually write about music, sometimes cross the border and write reviews about these books. I'm just interested in such type of literature and the fearless people I work with. Translation is a hard work and responsibility is huge, but my opinion is that translation is not a ‘servant’ to literature, but part of it; it is also art. A writer writes freely and so does the translator. That does not mean I have no criteria for quality and actually I can explain each of my decisions. In Switzerland, no one deals with Bulgarian literature, and there is no Bulgarian Studies in universities, while Slavic Studies does not include our language. Nobody knows anything about Bulgarian literature, art, language. That is why I dedicated myself to translation and in my opinion awakening interest in Bulgarian literature is my task.”

English: Alexander Markov