(1929 - 2004)
Yordan Radichkov was born in the village of Kalimanitsa near the town of Montana. He finished high school in Berkovitsa in 1947. He worked as correspondent (1951) and editor (1952-1954) in the newspaper Narodna mladezh; was editor in the Vecherni novini newspaper (1954-1960) and at the Bulgarian Cinematography (1960-1962); he was editor and editorial board member of the newspaper Literaturen front (1962-1969). Between 1973 and 1989 he was council member of the Council for the Development of Cultural Values at the State Council of the Republic of Bulgaria. Between 1986 and 1989 he was vice-president of the Union of Bulgarian Writers.
Radichkov published many collections of short stories: Surtseto bie za horata [The Heart Beats for the People] (1959); Prosti ratse [Simple Hands] (1961); Obarnato nebe [A Sky Turned Upside Down]; Svirepo nastroenie [Severe Mood] (1965); Vodolei [Aquarius] (1967); Kozheniyat papesh [Leather Melon] (1969); Baruten bukvar [Gunpowder Primer] (1969); Plyava i zarno [Chaff and Seeds] (1972); Nezhnata spirala [The Gentle Spiral] (1983); Hora i svraki [People and Magpies] (1990); Smokove v livadite [Racers in the Fields] (1995); Myure [Decoy] (1997) etc. He is author of novellas and novels (Vsichki i nikoi [All and Nobody] 1975; Prashka [Slingshot] 1977; Noev kovcheg [Noah’s Ark] 1988), travelogues (Neosveteni dvorove [Unlit Yards] 1966; Malka severna saga [Little Northern Saga] 1980), plays (Sumatoha [Commotion], January, Lazaritsa, Opit za letene [Learning to Fly], Koshnitsi [Baskets], Obraz i podobie [Image and Likeness], etc.), as well as film scripts (Goreshto pladne [Hot Noon] 1966, Privarzaniyat balon [The Tied Balloon] 1967, etc.).
Radichkov received numerous awards: the Italian prize Grinzane Cavour for fiction (1984), the Swedish national Polar Star Award (1988), listing in the Honorary list Hans Christian Andersen of the International Council of Children’s Books (1996), the top Literary Prize Dobri Chintulov (1980), the Askeer Prize for his life-time contribution to the development of theatre (1996), the National Literature Award Petko Slaveikov (1998), the Award for Literature of Sofia University (2001). In 2000 he received the Order of Stara planina – first degree for his contribution to Bulgarian culture; in 2003 the State Award for Culture Paisii Hilendarski. He was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Svirepo nastroenie is among the most representative of the 1960s spirit Bulgarian books – there is hardly a short story in it which whiffs of “socialist realism” and it constructs a radically non-traditional image of Bulgarian village life. In some of his later works Radichkov also employs the grotesque; he often uses the enigmatic, mysterious, and fearsome and blends the comic and the tragic in one and the same story.
Yordan Radichkov’s works have been translated into English by Judith Sprostranova, Bogdan Atanassov, and Peter Tempest, among others.
Radichkov published many collections of short stories: Surtseto bie za horata [The Heart Beats for the People] (1959); Prosti ratse [Simple Hands] (1961); Obarnato nebe [A Sky Turned Upside Down]; Svirepo nastroenie [Severe Mood] (1965); Vodolei [Aquarius] (1967); Kozheniyat papesh [Leather Melon] (1969); Baruten bukvar [Gunpowder Primer] (1969); Plyava i zarno [Chaff and Seeds] (1972); Nezhnata spirala [The Gentle Spiral] (1983); Hora i svraki [People and Magpies] (1990); Smokove v livadite [Racers in the Fields] (1995); Myure [Decoy] (1997) etc. He is author of novellas and novels (Vsichki i nikoi [All and Nobody] 1975; Prashka [Slingshot] 1977; Noev kovcheg [Noah’s Ark] 1988), travelogues (Neosveteni dvorove [Unlit Yards] 1966; Malka severna saga [Little Northern Saga] 1980), plays (Sumatoha [Commotion], January, Lazaritsa, Opit za letene [Learning to Fly], Koshnitsi [Baskets], Obraz i podobie [Image and Likeness], etc.), as well as film scripts (Goreshto pladne [Hot Noon] 1966, Privarzaniyat balon [The Tied Balloon] 1967, etc.).
Radichkov received numerous awards: the Italian prize Grinzane Cavour for fiction (1984), the Swedish national Polar Star Award (1988), listing in the Honorary list Hans Christian Andersen of the International Council of Children’s Books (1996), the top Literary Prize Dobri Chintulov (1980), the Askeer Prize for his life-time contribution to the development of theatre (1996), the National Literature Award Petko Slaveikov (1998), the Award for Literature of Sofia University (2001). In 2000 he received the Order of Stara planina – first degree for his contribution to Bulgarian culture; in 2003 the State Award for Culture Paisii Hilendarski. He was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Svirepo nastroenie is among the most representative of the 1960s spirit Bulgarian books – there is hardly a short story in it which whiffs of “socialist realism” and it constructs a radically non-traditional image of Bulgarian village life. In some of his later works Radichkov also employs the grotesque; he often uses the enigmatic, mysterious, and fearsome and blends the comic and the tragic in one and the same story.
Yordan Radichkov’s works have been translated into English by Judith Sprostranova, Bogdan Atanassov, and Peter Tempest, among others.
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All spellings; Radičkov, Jordan; Raditschkow, Jordan ; Radichkov, Jordan; Radichkov, Yordan; Радичков, Йордан; Raditsckow, Jordan