The 11th Elias Canetti National Literary Award will be awarded on October 31st.

Tuesday, 07 October 2025

The 120th anniversary of the Nobel Prize winner’s birth will be honored with a special program

One of the most significant events in the country’s literary calendar – the awarding of the Elias Canetti National Prize – will take place on October 31 at 6 p.m. in the Slavi Shkarov Hall of the Dohodnoto Zdanie.

For the 11th time, the award will be presented to a contemporary Bulgarian author whose work embodies the spirit of humanism and cosmopolitanism – values ​​that the Nobel Prize winner for literature, Elias Canetti, born in Ruse, embodies in the world’s literary heritage.

Among the record 65 proposals this year, the competent jury selected 7 nominations in the “Fiction” section. The finalists who will compete for the bronze statuette, made by sculptor Maya Kubratova, are:

• Radoslav Bimbalov – “You, My Likeness” (published by “Siela”);

• Georgi Gospodinov – “The Gardener and Death” (published by “Janet 45”);

• Deyan Enev – “Sixty Stories” (published by “Janet 45”);

• Violeta Radkova – “And Our Bed is Green” (published by “Janet 45”);

• Zahari Karabashliev – “Wound” (published by “Siela”);

• Ivan Stankov – “In Two Voices” (published by “Hermes”);

• Krasimir Dimovski – “Theseus in His Labyrinth” (published by “Hermes”).

No nomination was submitted in the “Drama” section this year.

The evaluation of the works was entrusted to established names in the field of literary criticism and culture - Prof. Dr. Plamen Doinov - Chairman of the jury, Prof. Dr. Cleo Protohristova, Prof. Dr. Penka Angelova - Chairman of the International Elias Canetti Society, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Velislava Doneva from the University of Ruse, Krum Gergitsov - theater critic, Teodora Dimova - writer and nominated author since 2021, as well as Kosyo Stanev - representative of the Standing Committee on Culture and Religious Affairs at the Municipal Council - Ruse.

The winner of the award will receive a diploma, a bronze statuette and a cash prize of 5,000 leva.

The host and director of the solemn ceremony will be the actor at the Sava Ognyanov Theater and head of the Piron Student Theater Ventsislav Petkov. The actor Penko Gospodinov will also take a special part in the festive program, who will embody the image of the writer. The highlight of the event will be the celebration of the 120th anniversary of Canetti's birth - a cause for pride not only for Ruse, but also for the entire Bulgarian cultural community.

The National Literary Award "Elias Canetti" was established in 2005 by the Municipality of Ruse in partnership with the International Society "Elias Canetti", on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the writer's birth. It is awarded every two years to Bulgarian authors in the genres of fiction and drama, whose works are distinguished by high artistic value and significance of the messages.

Admission to the ceremony is free.

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