Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov was awarded the Italian Boccaccio Literary Prize, the organizers of the award website announced. He is one of the three laureates of the prize this year together with journalist Stefania Battistini and playwright Marco Paolini.

Chairman of the jury of the 42nd edition of the Boccaccio Award was Walter Veltroni. The ceremony in Certaldo was organized by the Giovanni Boccaccio Literary Association, the municipality of Certaldo, Tuscany region, the Rotary Club, the Friends of Boccaccio Association. italy24.

It was an honor to receive the Boccaccio Prize in Italy, in Certaldo, the hometown of the one who told stories in dark times. Among the winners of the award are Ismail Kadare, Mario Vargas Llosa, Muriel Spark, my favorite Lars Gustafsson ... wrote Georgi Gospodinov in the social network Facebook.

"Today we do not live in one time, but in many times at once. We have a serious deficit of the future, so we often go around in circles and seek refuge in the past. This topic is also at the heart of the novel "Refuge time", Gospodinov said in a conversation published on the prize website, in response to a question in what time we live today.

Georgi Gospodinov will visit the Belgian capital Brussels

On the occasion of the war in Ukraine, the writer says that "the present war is not only about territory, it is a war about the past. That is why the present feels like the past. The project for the future is in deep crisis. We, together with the younger generations, in dialogue with our children, must oppose widespread social and climate disintegration as soon as possible, begin to claim the possibility of a future, personal and planetary, centimeter by centimeter."

"Putin started this war to take back his past, to retake the Soviet empire, but in fact he took us back to World War II," Gospodinov said.

Speaking to the Boccaccio Prize website, the Bulgarian writer adds that "writing and literature are the first, oldest media.

"Storytelling is at the beginning of communication. We must not forget that. Literature is a slow medium, but the meaning it creates lasts much longer. I believe that literature will continue to exist and be very important, especially in the age of new and rapid communication, "added the native writer.

Italy

Literary Prize

Georgi Gospodinov