(1919 - 1997)
Alexander Gerov was born in Sofia, where he completed his high school education. He graduated from Sofia University in Law. At the beginning of 1944 he was arrested for conspiracy activities and was released from prison on 9 September 1944. Gerov was editor in Radio Sofia, the journal Kinoizkustvo, the newspaper Kooperativno selo, at the Fokus department of Bulgarian Cinematography, and in Bulgaski pisatel publishing house.

In the 1930s Gerov was among the editors of the newspapers Uchenicheski podem and Zvan – editions for school children where he worked together with Valeri Petrov, Nikolay Raynov, and Alexander Vutimski. In 1938 he took part in the collection Prag [Threshold] in which poems by Vutimski were published. He is author of the poetry collections Dva miliarda [Two Billion] (1942), Stihotvoreniya [Poems] (1949), Nay-hubavoto [The Best] (1958, 1970), Priyateli [Friends] (1965), Zlatni pantofki [Golden Slippers] (1966), Prashinki [Specks of Dust] (1973), Vnezapni stihotvoreniya [Sudden Poems] (1986).

Alexander Gerov is a representative of the 1940s generation of poets – a typical urban poet with an acute eye for the particular and tiny trivia, with a longing for connecting with the earth and the universe, with a sense for wonder.

Alexander Gerov’s poetry has been translated and rendered in English by Peter Tempest, John Balaban, Grace Cavalieri, Roy MacGregor-Hastie, Maxine Kumin, among others.

 

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All spellings; Геров, Александър ; Gerov, Aleksandăr; Gerov, Alexandăr ; Gerov, Alexander; Gerow, Alexander