Poet Toma Binchev will be remembered at an evening event at the Regional Library in Burgas. It starts at 6pm and closes the events marking 80 years since his birth.
The motto is "On the brow of summer, the same mark: Life is good!". There will be music and visual displays about Binchev's life and work. The programme also includes his poems and memories from friends and colleagues.
The main organiser, poet Radovesta Gyuleva, says the event will be grand. Literary critic Katya Zografova, who will speak about the poet, said she was deeply moved by the invitation.
"I liked his minimalist tone. It is as if he wants to say the sea in a single sentence," Zografova told Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). She calls Binchev a great poet from Burgas and says she loves him dearly. She says those close to him sensed a deep sadness beneath his cheerful, artistic manner.
Binchev was born in Burgas on 22 August 1946. His poems were first printed when he was 12, in the newspaper "Chernomorski Front" and later in the magazine "Rodna Rech". Hristo Fotev noticed his talent and took him to the Atanas Manchev literary circle at the Probuda chitalishte (community cultural centre).
He studied Bulgarian philology and philosophy at Sofia University "St Kliment Ohridski". Petya Dubarova, Rosen Drumev, Dimitrina Baeva and others took part in the literary club he founded. He worked for eight years as a journalist in the culture section of "Chernomorski Front".
He later moved to Sofia, where for many years he was a curator at the National Literary Museum – the P.K. Yavorov House Museum. Zografova says he worked there for 10 years. Binchev died suddenly in Sofia on 23 November 2013.
His best-known poetry collections are "Words", "Open Sea", "Free Sonnets", "The Hour", the English-Bulgarian edition "The Sea in Blue" and the last one, "The Sea". He also wrote more than 20 books and teaching aids for children in the early school years.
He co-wrote "My Primer. Little Bee", the tenth primer published by Prosveta. It came out in 2002 and was used until 2016.
Binchev sat on the jury of the Yavorov Days in 1995 and 2000, and chaired the Petya Dubarova competition several times.
Gyuleva believes his place in Bulgarian literature is a big one. He may not have won the popularity he deserved in his lifetime, but he has it now after his death. Readers of his aphorisms and his poems about the sea and children smile and are carried off to a different, colourful world.
In early October we reported that the Burgas Writers' Community association had sent Burgas council proposals for a national competition for children's poetry and prose named after Toma Binchev, and for a street named after the poet in the city's new districts. The reason is the same 80th anniversary of his birth.
"His children's poetry is very distinctive. It is full of sound play, it has a teasing touch and it encourages children to explore," Gyuleva told BNR.