The Burgas writer Vasil Lyutskanov debuts with a novel inspired by the "Book of Job".

On June 25, Burgas will host the premiere of the debut novel "Goodbye, Lavarok" by Vasil Lyutskanов - an established journalist with a 45-year career and a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, the Association "Burgas Writers' Community" and the League of Bulgarian Writers in the USA. The book, published by "Ab" and co-financed by the Culture Fund of the Municipality of Burgas, will be presented at the Writers' House at 6:30 pm.

The plot of the novel follows the dramatic odyssey of the main character Victor Lyutov - Lavarok (sea hush), whose story is inspired by the "Book of Job" from the Old Testament. Lavarok goes through a labyrinth of trials in his life - from a school rebel, condemned by the Komsomol, to an "unreliable" student, "felt up" by the State Security. The romanticism of the apparent freedom after 1989 turns out to be David's sling in his confrontation with the Goliath of the Deep State and its oligarchic-mafia henchmen.

Although Lavarok manages to escape the lifelong manipulation of the system, this happens at a high price - a broken personal life, abuse of his children, a bitter divorce, the loss of loves in his life. But he finds salvation in the hesychia of the Southern Burgas Sea, with its all-forgiving horizon and inspiring Orphic magic.

According to the literary critic Dr. Dobrina Topalova, "Goodbye, Lavarok" is a "new reading of the 'Book of Job' - the most enigmatic part of the Old Testament", where the narrator-protagonist confesses his rich life path to reach the time of hesychia - the time when there is no time and all times meet and embrace.

Vasil Lyutskanов was born in Burgas, graduated from the English High School and studied "Bulgarian Philology" and "Culturology" at the St. Kliment Ohridski University. He made his debut as a fiction writer in 1987 with the collection "Reverse Trains", followed by "Porcelain Flower" (1991). After a 27-year creative pause, he published two successful collections of short stories - "Our Souls Suffer Beautifully" (2022) and "The Third Eye of Oedipus" (2024).