Dimitar Stefanov (Bulgaria)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Dimitar Stefanov (born 1932) is a well-known Bulgarian Poet, essayist and translator. He graduated in Czech and Bulgarian
philology from Prague University. He has worked as an editor for Bulgarian National Radio and several Publishing Houses
deputy editor-in-chief for the literary magazine “Plamak” and “Literary Front” weekly (now “Literary forum”). His highly
professional qualities and independent way of thought kept him aside from political advantages and the favored literary
circles.

Dimitar Stefanov is the author of twenty books of poetry (poems, sonnets and haiku), a book of essays in two editions and
ten books for children. He mainly translates from the Czech and Slovak languages French and Russian. Three of his
children’s poetry books were awarded Best Book of the Year. After the democratic changes in 1989 he received the
National Award for Literature “Racho Stoyanov”.

He is a poet combining in an original way vitality and philosophical thought with creative invention and poetic discovery
without being commercial. Understood and liked better by poets rather than critics. One can feel his influence on some of the
younger authors. His two books of “everyday sonnets” are a true example of creative and human assertiveness, high artistic
achievement and still sound topical.

Dimitar Stefanov is the first of the Bulgarian poets to write and publish books of haiku. His latest book for children is a
nonsense poetry book, the first of its kind in Bulgarian literature.

Translations of his poetical works (both for adults and children) have been published in Slovak, Serbia and England.
Of great interest are his haiku translated into English, Serbian, Japanese, Hungarian, Ukrainian and the Czech and Slovak
languages. Selected haiku of Dimitar Stefanov have been included in several books of poetry published in Serbia and
England, and also in an anthology of world haiku poetry, published in USA in 1997 by William J. Higginson.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Author of 20 books of poetry for adults, among them:

“The sun is not to set” - poems (1957)
“Plus Sign” - poems (1968)
“The past we shall turn into” - poems (1975)
“Once again about the Fire” - poems (1978)
“Everyday sonnets” - (1981)
“111 sonnets” - (1984)
“The Woods of the Dandelion. A try at Haiku” - haiku (1988)
/la seconde edition/
- second enlarged edition - (1994)
“Everyday sonnets” - selected sonnets - (1994)
“Innocent Entities” - haiku, in Bulgarian and English - (1996)
“An Hour to Myself” - poems, sonnets, haiku - (1997)

Author of 10 books of poetry for children among them:

“Sunny Rabbits” - (1997)
“A Star with a Latern” - (1974)
“A Bicycle Bell” - (1980)

Author of a book of essays, “Discrepancies” - (1983)
second enlarged edition - (1997)

His 5 books translated and published - in the Czech and Slovak languages, Serbian and English

14 books of poetry and 10 books of prose translated from the Slovak, Czech and old Czech languages, Russian and old French by Dimitar Stefanov.