In 1995, UNESCO designated April 23 as World Book and Copyright Day. In Bulgaria, a number of initiatives aimed at promoting reading, especially among children and young people are being held on this day. Do Bulgarians read and is there high-quality Bulgarian literature? More from head of the National Book Center at the National Palace of Culture and “Peroto” Literary Club, Svetlozar Zhelev.

“In recent years there has been a tremendous growth and development in modern Bulgarian literature. We have always had great storytellers, great writers and poets, but in recent years quality has indeed risen, perhaps because of interaction with foreign-language literature. There is a revival in Bulgarian literature,” Svetlozar Zhelev said.

Statistics show that Bulgaria occupies one of the last places in the EU by number of books read per year, although in 2017 Bulgarian publishers offered almost 9,000 new titles. Are modern Bulgarian writers at the level of Western authors?

“Many of them are much better than many Western writers,” Svetlozar Zhelev says. “I think that the level of Bulgarian literature is extremely high and this is evident by the translations of Bulgarian books abroad and the positive reviews that came out in the biggest European media about the novels of Georgi Gospodinov, Alek Popov, Milen Ruskov, Teodora Dimova, Vladimir Zarev and others. For me, nihilism towards Bulgarian literature, which ruled in the 1990s, has long been overcome and people have seen that Bulgarian writers are not only at the level of their foreign colleagues but in many cases much better. We have exceptional writers whom all nations would be proud of.”

The March of Books Campaign, in which celebrities read books in kindergartens and schools; "Reading Marathon" with various programs and visits of children to libraries; a national contest in which Bulgarian children choose their favorite children's book; "Feast of Children's Books"; readings and meetings with authors at the National Book Center and the Peroto Club - these are just some of the events that promote children's interest in reading and books.

“I have always been against constant complaints from colleagues and media that young people do not read," Svetlozar Zhelev points out. “I do not share that opinion. I see very serious young people and students whose literary knowledge is on a very high level. Naturally, we must continue urging young people to read different books, creating respect for the book. Reading is trendy, but we need to continue with the same or even bigger strength to provoke the young to read.”

Svetlozar Zhelev is firm that the e-book will never replace its paper version.

“They are not in competition. A tale called ‘Will the Mouse Eat the Book?’ has never existed for me. The electronic book or audio books are just books in a different form. It is important that the content remains the same. There has been a very serious slowdown in growth of e-book sales in recent years, so I think the death of the paper book is quite exaggerated. The opportunity for everyone to choose which media is most convenient is just one more way to make people turn to reading,” Svetlozar Zhelev said.

English: Alexander Markov