Georgi Gospodinov

Gueorgui Gospodinov is a Bulgarian novelist, poet, and playwright, known for his exploration of memory, time, and human fragility. He is the author of Time Shelter (2020), which received the 2023 International Booker Prize, shared with translator Angela Rodel, and the 2021 Strega European Prize. His earlier novels, Natural Novel (1999) and The Physics of Sorrow (2012) established him as one of the leading voices of post-communist European literature.

Gospodinov was born on 7 January 1968 in Yambol, Bulgaria. He studied Bulgarian philology at Sofia University and later obtained a PhD in New Bulgarian Literature from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He began his literary career in the early 1990s as a poet, publishing Lapidarium (1992) and The Cherry of a People (1996), both recipients of national awards.

His early writing reflected a transition in Bulgarian culture after the Cold War, combining irony and melancholy with a search for identity.

His debut novel, Natural Novel (1999), gained international attention for its fragmented narrative and inventive style. Translated into more than twenty languages, it was described by The Guardian as “both earthy and intellectual.”

Gospodinov followed with And Other Stories (2001), a collection that includes “Blind Vaysha,” later adapted into an Oscar-nominated animated short film. He also collaborated on the graphic novel The Eternal Fly (2010) with artist Nikola Toromanov.

Gospodinov achieved significant recognition with The Physics of Sorrow (2012), a multi-layered narrative exploring memory and empathy through the lens of a man who feels the emotions of others. The novel received several awards, including the Jan Michalski Prize and the Angelus Award, and was praised by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “a gorgeous work that should definitely be read.”

His novel Time Shelter (2020) deepened his reputation as a European writer of rare insight. The book tells the story of a clinic offering rooms that recreate past decades, intended to help Alzheimer’s patients but soon attracting people seeking refuge from the present.

Through this idea, Gospodinov examines the dangers of nostalgia and the politics of collective memory. As he writes, the past “rushes in like a flood” when the future collapses. Critics have called the novel “a Proust coming from the East” (La Repubblica) and “a powerful and brilliant novel” (Sandro Veronesi).

Gospodinov’s recent works include The Gardener and Death (2024), written after his father’s death. In 2024, he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a the Royal Society of Literature International Writer. His fiction, translated into over thirty languages, continues to reflect the intersections of memory, loss, and human resilience in modern Europe.