Elena Alexieva (1975) is without a doubt one of the most emblematic contemporary Bulgarian authors. Her works have appeared in periodical publications and anthologies in English, French, Polish, and Spanish. Her short story collection Who was published in Spain (Nocturna Ediciones, 2010), followed by The Knight, the Devil and Death in Montenegro (Octoix, 2012) and The Nobel Laureate in France (Actes Sud, 2015). The Fun Fair, a short story which appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Elena’s novel Saint Wolf (2018) is the winner of the National Novel of the Year Award (2019) and the Peroto national award for Modern Bulgarian Fiction (2019). In 2023 her latest novel Vulcan has been listed for the Peroto national award for Modern Bulgarian Fiction.

Emanuil А. Vidinski (1978) has authored the short story collection Cartographies of the Escape (2005), followed by the novel Breathing Rooms (2008), the poetry collection Par Avion (2011) and the short story collection Egon and the Silence (2015), with his most recent work being the novel Home for Beginners, published in 2023. In 2017 Par Avion was publshed in German by etaVerlag. Vidinski is the creator and editor of the Global Novels series at Altera publishing (2007-2010). Between 2008 and 2012 he was editor at the Bulgarian section of

Deutsche Welle radio in Bonn, Germany, and between 2013 and 2016 he was an editor-in-chief at Panorama publishing. Vidinski plays in the Bulgarian rock band Par Avion, he has worked at radio programs and mentored numerous creative writing courses and workshops. His works have been published in anthologies in Austria, USA and Germany.

Rene Karabash is the pen name of Irena Ivanova (1989) – a writer, a scriptwriter, a theatre director and an actress. Her first poetic book, Hips and Moths (2015), had launches in London, the University of Cambridge and in Prague. Rene’s poems have been published in various literary anthologies around the world.

Rene’s debut novel She Who Remains (2018) won the prestigious Elias Canetti national literary award, a nomination for the Bulgarian Novel of the Year Award of the National Endowment Fund 13 Centuries Bulgaria

and a nomination for the Peroto national award for Modern Bulgarian fiction. A cinema adaptation of the novel is on the go. A screenplay based on the novel won the Bulgarian National Film Center grant, and the movie (with director Kostadin Bonev) will be shot in 2024. Rene’s most recent book with short prose, Letters of Omar to his Future Wife (2021), has become a major bestseller.

Yordanka Beleva (1977) is considered one of the most peculiar female voices of contemporary Bulgarian literature. A short story writer and a poet, she is the author of three poetry collections: Peignoirs and Boats (2002), Her (2012), Missed Moment (2017), and four short story collections: The Sea Level of Love (2011), Keys (2015), Keder (2018), Hedgehogs Come out at Night (2022). Yordanka has won national awards for both poetry and prose and her short stories and poems have been translated into French, Spanish, German and English and

published in numerous anthologies. Beleva’s short story collection – Keder – won the National Endowment for the Art prose award in the USA at the end of 2022. Keder was also published in Macedonia (Blesok, 2019). Beleva’s poetry collection The Missed Moment was published in German by eta Verlag in 2021. Many of her short stories have been filmed and awarded at international festivals (The Man-Eater’s Grandson, Family Portrait of the Black Earth and others).

Momchil Nikolov (1970) is not only a famous screenwriter, but also a strong and recognizeable voice of contemporary Bulgarian prose. He graduated with a degree in medicine, but is dedicated primarily to writing. He authored several short story collections: Travelers, Short Stories, Fragments of a Room, and Mad Doris, as well as the novels Hash Oil, The Top Floor,
The Spherical Fish, Machinery for Love, and The Last Territory. In 2008, The Spherical Fish won the National Readers’ Helikon award for best prose book. His novel The Last Territory (2016), was nominated for every significant Bulgarian prize and won the most prestigious ones: the Bulgarian Novel of the Year Award of the National Endowment Fund 13 Centuries
Bulgaria – 2017 and the Peroto national award for Modern Bulgarian Fiction. After the success of Chekmo (2019), highly appreciated by both critics and readers, a sequel to the book – Chekmo-2 was published in 2022.

With her first poetry book, The Men and Women I Used To Be, Dimana Yordanova (1986) became a first-prize winner at the international literary contest Alda Merini and the national competition for debut literature Yuzhna Prolet. She is also the author of the poetry book Down the Spine and the children’s book What a Surprise! Letters to Niya, My Unborn Child, her latest and most impressive work, has been universally hailed as an important achievement and was nominated for the national poetry award Ivan Nikolov. Dimana has worked as an editor for various websites, as a copywriter and screenwriter.