Burgas mayor Dimitar Nikolov has proposed the city's "Honorary Citizen" title for journalist Lyuben Dilov-son and painter Georgi Yanakiev, both posthumously, and for writer Kerana Angelova. The proposals have been sent to the city council, which must vote on them.
Lyuben Dilov-son was born in Sofia on 19 November 1964 and died on 2 June 2026 after an illness. He was a journalist, writer, commentator and public figure, and also served as an MP. His is one of the best-known names in Bulgarian journalism and satire.
Television was at the heart of his work. He co-wrote and was one of the creators of the satirical shows "Ku-Ku", "Kanaleto", "Hashove" and others. His books continued the family's literary tradition, but with his own outlook. They contain humour and satire, and reflect on human behaviour, politics, public masks and the clash between ideals and reality.
Georgi Yanakiev was born in Chernomorets on 1 April 1933 and studied at the Real Gymnasium in Burgas. In 1969 he graduated in painting from the Nikolai Pavlovich Academy of Arts in Sofia, where his teacher was Prof. Nenko Balkanski. From 1970 he took part in all national and regional exhibitions, and his paintings appeared in group shows in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and other countries.
Yanakiev held his first solo exhibition in Burgas in 1973. In 1978 he showed his work in Nesebar and in Sofia, his first show in the capital. His work was shown in Sofia again in 1986, in the Spanish city of Évora in 1987, in London in 1988, in Nesebar in 1990 and in Sofia once more in 1996. In 1997 he had exhibitions in Burgas and in Italy.
In 1996 he won an award from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York. He died before the opening of his solo exhibition there. His paintings are in private collections in England, France, Germany and the US.
Kerana Angelova was born in the village of Brodilovo in the Strandzha region and has lived and worked in Burgas since 1971. She has published 20 books: novellas, novels, essays and poetry collections. Her poetry has been presented in the US, Italy, Egypt, Serbia, Peru, Chile, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Russia, North Macedonia and Turkey.
"Elada Pinyo and Time" has come out in several foreign editions: in English in the US and in German in Switzerland, where its European premiere took place at the Kaufleuten Kultur centre in Zurich. "The Inner Room" has been translated into English, and "Sunflowers for Maria" has been published in German.
In 2024, a Swiss publisher put the German edition of "Sunflowers for Maria" forward for the HOT LIST, the biggest contest for independent publishers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, based in Frankfurt. The book made the top 10 of 204 titles, and in the final it took first place in the readers' vote.
In Bulgaria, Angelova has won the "Fiction Book of the Year" award of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, the Blaga Dimitrova National Literature Prize and the "Best Fiction Book" award of the Liber Foundation. She also won the "Readers' Award" in the VIK Foundation contest for "Elada Pinyo and Time", the only book in the contest's history nominated by both the jury and the readers. She has also been nominated for the Hristo G. Danov, Elias Canetti, Peroto, Portal Kultura and "1300 Years Bulgaria" awards.
The stage play based on "Elada Pinyo and Time" has been in the repertoire of the Kis Theatre in Budapest for 20 years. It premiered at Hungary's Arkus Fest theatre festival, where it won the Grand Prize for best female role. It has been staged many times in Hungary and Bulgaria, and has toured to London, Warsaw, Toruń, Berlin, Hamburg, Bitola and Vienna.
The Radio Theatre in Sofia won a prize place in the European radio theatre competition with its production of "Zana", based on her novella of the same name. Burgas council gave Angelova its Pegasus plaque in 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2022, and in 2018 the Golden Pegasus for her body of work.