It is difficult to weed out Bulgarian authors among the multitude of books, and even more difficult to weed out Bulgarian illustrators. Some names remain unknown, despite their long-standing work for certain publishing houses, others remain unrecognizable among the multitude of older production or foreign artists. Nevertheless, if you ask, any publisher will be happy to orient you when and what was published.
Here's what we found today, mainly among children's publications, since we decided that we wouldn't have the strength and time to navigate among the covers in different genres.
The long-awaited third book by writer Yulia Spiridonova was Yulka from the "frog" series "Be My Friend" by Krugozor Publishing House. The sunny cover attracts attention at first sight and contrasts against the background of the other books (we can boldly say in the entire bazaar), and the illustrations... Penko Gelev's drawings are a visual delight not only for connoisseurs, but also for young readers. If you haven't touched these books yet - now is the time!
A true gem in the field of book graphics is the new book by the publishing house “Zhannet 45” – “Book of All Things” with illustrations by Lyuba Haleva. The images are conceptual, abruptly leaving the plane of “children's illustration” and offering a second plane of perception of the text. On June 1, the original illustrations will be presented in the meeting space “+ tova” at 6:30 p.m. Another “brand new” book by the same publishing house is the second part of “Merry Tickling Laughter” by Margarit Minkov, which you cannot miss at the stand.
Another conceptual project that you will find in the same place is “Block No. 4” by Zornitsa Hristova, but published by “Tochitsa” publishing house with illustrations by Yulian Tabakov. We also highly recommend the book “When I Want to Be Silent” (although it was published in 2014) with black and white drawings by Kiril Zlatkov, which is a must-have in the collection of every fan of beautiful and impactful illustration.
And having mentioned the term “conceptual” (twice), we cannot miss a book that was presented only three or four days ago – the collection “Their Memories and Then” by Lexicon Publishing House. As for the texts, they are hardly subject to definition, but we can only suggest a direction between “stream of consciousness” and “Dada”. The same can be said about the illustrations by the young artist Alexandra Georgieva, which will provoke all your perceptions.
Among the most recent surprises on the book market is the publishing house "List", which started with a bang with three projects. The first was "The Cat and the Devil" by James Joyce, illustrated by cartoonist Chavdar Nikolov. The second surprise was realized by the young illustrator Mila Yaneva-Tabakova - "Morris, or the Fisherman's Cottage" by Mary Shelley, and yesterday the third was presented at the "Art Alley" gallery - "The Bee" by Anatole France with illustrations by Lyuben Zidarov, which you can find "warm and warm" at the stand.
One of the most familiar to all of us children's book publishers is undoubtedly "FYUT". They can offer you a wide range of books for all ages. Some of their latest titles are "Hedgehog Cherry" with illustrations by Lilyana Dvoryanova, "Adventures with Friends" with wonderful illustrations for the little ones by Bilyana Gospodinova and the series "In the Magic Forest" (with drawings by various artists), which for many of us remains a favorite since its beginning in the 90s.
For the first time, the fair also includes the website "I Read" with a small stand on the second half-floor. There you can find the writer Radostina Nikolova with her wonderful Motov and her new book about Elena Wu - "My Beautiful Horns" (he - the horn, is only one, but she will tell you why), all illustrated by Melina-Elina Bondokova. Maya Bocheva-Wiki is also there with her interactive game books and "The Kindnesses" by the writer Nikola Raykov.
At the newly positioned stand of Softpress Publishing House you can find the incredible new "Alice in Wonderland" with a new translation by Lyubomir Nikolov. The illustrations are by Milena Radeva, whose first drawing for the book was included in a special Norwegian edition on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the book. These ink paintings are definitely different from anything that has been offered on the domestic market so far, and the format is suitable for both children and adults.
To our great regret, we were unable to make it to the stand of Ciela Publishing House, but we recommend first-hand the two publications by Gianni Rodari, "Favorite Christmas Stories" and "Gelsomino in the Land of Liars" with illustrations by Damyan Damyanov, with which he won the Konstantin Konstantinov National Award this year.
We are probably missing a lot of new titles by our fellow illustrators, but it is up to you to discover other good examples among the sea of foreign titles and illustrations. The bazaar continues until May 28 from 10:00 to 20:00 with free admission.
Photos: Milena Radeva
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