Two new books will be presented in Burgas tonight, both at 6pm. Yancho Cholakov will talk about "Covid Ward" at the House of the Writer, while Dencho Mihov will present his collection "Literary Meridians. What Is Being Written Here and Now" at the Yavorov Regional Library.
"Covid Ward" is a non-fiction account of the coronavirus pandemic, told through the author's own experience. Cholakov has so far written mostly magical realism, fantasy and alternate history. This is his first book entirely outside science fiction.
He says he wanted to describe the epidemic as he saw it himself, while on oxygen therapy. The book is dedicated to relatives and friends who died during the crisis.
Cholakov made his literary debut in 1984. He founded the Ofir publishing house and has won the Graviton award and the Petko Rosen plaque. His launch is organised by the Science Fiction Club and the Salty Winds association, and is part of the Autumn Literary Festival programme.
Mihov's collection brings together literary reviews that take a critical look at contemporary literature. It has three parts: poetry, fiction and titles that won the Equilibrium award. The editor is Elitsa Dubarova.
"There are books that tell stories, and books that tell about books themselves," said literary critic Petya Staneva. "But there are also rarer works, in which the portrait of an era slowly emerges between the pages of a literary conversation," she added.
She says that, read closely, the collection draws a map of today's many literary voices, with human fates, imagination and words as its landmarks. Staneva also finds in it a portrait of a community, and of the man who chose to watch it closely.
Libra Scorp, the publisher organising the launch, is run by Mihov himself. He is an associate professor of chemistry at Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov University. So far he has mostly published specialist scientific and teaching literature on his own.
Entry to the launch at the library is free.