When a few days ago I saw that Mrs. Rositsa Petrova, director of the Regional Library “Sava Dobroplodni” – Sliven and the main organizer of the National Children's Book Festival in the city of Sliven, was calling me, what did I think? “The end! They canceled the festival!” Nothing like that, dear readers of our site. On the other side of the phone I heard “Milena, you will come, right?”. But how could I not go, as these are the most wonderful festivals, fairs, concerts, performances, awards and experiences that can happen during the year and they are in one place… in Sliven.
I have to admit, this year the Sliven Festival and the Bologna Fair almost coincided and I… no… I… booked tickets for Bologna. On the contrary, I called the wonderful Elena Pavlova and here we are, at six in the morning we are already flying along the Trakia highway for the opening of the festival. Three days of fun, dancing, exhibitions, friendly conversations, wonderful entertainment, excitement in anticipation of the grand prize “Konstantin Konstantinov” and… a lot of work to cover the event. I won’t lie to you, running with the camera is great, my step counter congratulates me on 10k already at 9:30 in the morning, and by evening it is already asking me if my phone has been stolen.
But, let’s not get carried away, we are already in Sliven and quietly, the opening is starting…
The official opening traditionally began with a short program, in which children from various dance and music schools from Sliven participated, and the host was Daniel Tsochev. The mayor of the city, Stefan Radev, greeted the participants and guests of this year's edition with a short speech. Bojana Apostolova also joined in the greetings, who greeted her "colleague at the festival" Rositsa Petrova and called on the children to applaud her, because she is the spirit of the festival. Thus began the festival.
Immediately after the official part, there was the opening of the exhibition of children's dolls, and at the beginning of the pedestrian promenade, as always, there is the open stage, on which a "Fairy Tale Without End..." took place. The performance is based on Bulgarian folk tales and the performance "The Three Little Pigs and the Wolf Panayot" is at the Theater House "Marieta and Marionette.
This was followed by the premiere of Marin Troshanov's latest book "Emmy and the Shadow Thief", published by Ciela Publishing House, and Maria Angelova's book "The Incredible Adventures of Bluelegs and Zhuzha" by Marmot Publishing House.
The illustration exhibitions this year were stunning, and you know, I don’t use such definitions! So I’ll shut up and let you immerse yourself in the world of Katina Peeva (winner of last year’s prize in the “Illustrator” category) and her incredible paintings. In the “May” exhibition hall, an exhibition of the future hopes of the guild was presented – student illustrations “From the Fairytale World of Boris Aprilov”, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the writer’s birth. The students also received awards sponsored by the ADCOM company, which all colleagues know, I think there is no need to introduce them.
The first day's program continued with the book by Galina Andonova (you know her from her participation in the Biennale of Illustration) - "Friends Forever" by Hermes Publishing House. Marin Troshanov held a writing master class at the Library, Elena Pavlova presented her latest book "Assen and the Travelers in 100 Bulgarias" by Softpress Publishing House.
The day ended with a thunderstorm that thwarted the festive outdoor concert and dance marathon, although my feet are already sore from running and my mouth is sore from laughing and smiling. Do you know what the one thing I don’t like about this festival? That it’s only three days!
Text and photos: Milena Radeva
You can see all the photos on our Facebook page.
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