April 26^th 2025 | 6:00 p.m.

National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences  

New European Voices

Anastasia Levkova (Ukraine), Nikola Lekić (Serbia) and Tülin Erkan (Belgium)

Presenter: Nadezhda Moskovska

 

The programme of Literary Talks has always been centred on thematic focus and on trends in contemporary world literature. In We usually host authors who have already been translated into Bulgarian, but less often we have the opportunity to meet, or even to introduce young foreign writers to Bulgarian readers. Such encounters show the literary pursuits of younger writers in Europe, but they are also often of interest to the professional audience of the festival, who are constantly on the lookout for new and unexpected voices in European literature.

That is why on April the 26th at 6:00 pm at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at BAS we are looking forward to an unusual format that will include the work of three rising international writers. The audience will have the opportunity to hear for the first time excerpts from their works, translated exclusively into Bulgarian – texts of the Ukrainian writer, editor, cultural manager and journalist Anastasia Levkova, Serbian writer Nikola Lekić and Belgian writer, editor and creative writing teacher Tülin Erkan.

The books of the three writers will take us to different places: to Crimea and its history until Russia's occupation in 2014 (Levkova); to the airport terminal in Istanbul, where Erkan's character is stuck between two cultures, and to a hostel on the border of reality (Lekic). Although very different, in all three of the books there is a turning to the past in an attempt to overcome personal loss, to search for the roots of identity, to rediscover language, history, belonging.

The three authors, as well as the translators Dayana Gocova, Tsvetomira Mladenova and Elissaveta Manolova Maciel, are visiting on the initiative of the Next Page Foundation within the international project for the development of promising literary talents Connecting Emerging Literary Artists - CELA.

 

ⓘ  Anastasia Levkova (1986) is a Ukrainian writer, editor, cultural manager, and journalist. Since 2007, she has been running dozens of book projects in Ukraine. Currently, she is an editor of The Ukrainians media and a coordinator of PEN, Ukraine’s Merezhyvo [Lacework] Project: Literary Readings in Towns of Ukraine. She is also a member of PEN Ukraine. Her novel for teenagers, Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman (Старшокласниця. Першокурсниця) (published by The Old Lion Publishing House in 2017), was shortlisted for BBC Children’s Book of the Year and Litaccent of the Year, and won the Prose Debut of the Year nomination from BaraBuka. Her fiction book for children Ashik Omer was published by Portal in 2020, and her nonfiction book for teenagers and adults, Common Language. How Words Are Born and Live, also published by Portal in 2020, was shortlisted for BaraBuka and Book of the Year. Her novel There is a Land Beyond Perekop. A Crimean Novel, published by Laboratory in 2023 was shortlisted for BBC Book of the Year.

ⓘ  Nikola Lekić (1989) is a Serbian writer who grew up in Belgrade, Sombor, and Kruševac. He studied Art History at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Philosophy. His short stories have been published in literary magazines and a number of anthologies. He is the author of the novels Trafika (2016), Persson (2019) and The way of perceptionists (2024).

ⓘ  Tülin Erkan (1988) is a writer, freelance editor, and creative-writing teacher. She studied linguistics and literature as well as comparative literature. She grew up in a multilingual family, with a French-speaking mother, an English-speaking grandmother, and spending summers in Turkey with her father. While some people describe her as “half” something or other, she considers herself to have a double identity. In her debut novel Honingeter, she explored the tension between one’s mother tongue and homeland. Honingeter  was nominated for the Bronzen Uil, Boekenbon, and De Boon literary prizes. She is currently working on her second novel.