Ivan Dimitrov

Ivan is a prose writer who allows himself to write poetry, and thinks that we could all do with less drama in real life, so he redirects it all into his work as a playwright. He is the author of six books, and he is in charge of Vij!'s coverage of contemporary Bulgarian literature. Ivan has many years of journalistic and editorial experience, and has worked in communications and project development in the cultural field. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Bulgarian Philology and a master's degree in Cultural Anthropology from Sofia University. He has written for a number of outlets, including Gorichka, One Week in Sofia, Egoist and Dnevnik. His play The Eyes of Others debuted in New York.

The Extenuating Circumstances of Samuel Finzi

After January and before his March visit to Sofia with A Horse Walks into a Bar, Samuel Finzi tells us why thinking and acting are more important than feeling when you’re on stage

Health Factories

Slava Savova guides us through the history of the mineral baths and springs in Bulgaria, and tells us about the future of this recently abandoned heritage

The Other Memory

In her first novel, Justine Toms tells the story of the women's camps in the early years of the totalitarian regime in Bulgaria, and now she is working on the second one – about how those who were different lived in the 50s and 60s

What will the future of humanity look amidst all the new technologies entering our lives? We spoke to Alexander Popov, part of team ot ShadowDance magazine, and futurologist Marianna Todorova about “superintelligence” and our possible futures

The Boundaries of Water

The Ohrid and Prespa lakes tell the story of the Balkans in Kapka Kassabova's new novel

War through the Camera Lens

The celebrated duo of Bulgarian war journalism talks about Ukraine, Syria and why honest reporting matters most

The Home of Green Satire

This year's edition of the Gabrovo Biennale combines the city's iconic frugality with ecology, and we spoke to the director of the Museum of Humor and Satire, Margarita Dorovska, about it

Sofia’s Gardeners

There is urban agriculture in Bulgaria, but it needs institutional support to develop

How a Japanese puppeteer decided to study in Bulgaria, and the definition of a "sleeping man"

Ana Bateva: Gunpowder on Screen and Stage

For Ana Bateva, one of the leading young theater directors in Bulgaria, being Macedonian in our country today is like being between a rock and a hard place