A premiere of Milen Ruskov’s novel "Summit"

 "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library took part in the festive program dedicated to the day of Sliven – Saint Dimitar’s Day - with a unique literary event - the premiere of the novel "Summit" by the writer Milen Ruskov, described by critics as a phenomenon in the modern Bulgarian literature. The premiere took place on October 23 in 5.00 pm in the Culture figure’s club. More than hundred fans and readers of modern Bulgarian prose attended the event. Ivan Slavov – a vice-mayor of Sliven municipality attended the event too.

The writer Milen Ruskov was born in Burgas in 1966. He lives in Sofia. He graduated in Bulgarian Philology in 1995 at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". He is a writer and a translator. He wrote three books: "Pocket Encyclopaedia of Mysteries" (2004), for which he received the award for debut "Southern Spring", "Thrown into Nature" (2008, 2011 - English edition in the U.S.), which was awarded Vick Prize for a novel of the year, and "Summit" (2011). He translated more than 20 books in English, including "Confessions of an English opium-eater" by Thomas De Quincey, "Money" by Martin Amis, "How to look philosophically at life" by Jerome Jerome, etc. He is the winner of "Krastan Dyankov" prize for translation from English (2009).

His novel "Summit" was issued by "Janet 45" publishing house at the end of 2011 because, as the poet Ani Ilkov says "Books like this are not easy to be written, nor they appear frequently in Bulgaria, and probably anywhere", it quickly obtained its recognition - National Award "Hristo G. Danov" in the category of fiction in 2012, and the Award of the Ministry of Culture "Golden Age" in 2012.

Therefore, probably the question isn’t it its premiere in Sliven belated is reasonable. And the answer is not - of course. The time has been chosen deliberately by the initiators of "Sava Dobroplodni" Regional Library to be in the days around October 26th, because in these days around Saint Dimitar’s Day – The Day of Sliven- each Sliven citizen returns to his home town's history, to its past, to his ancestral  roots, to that revival spirit that seems still to be felt beneath the old elm tree, in the square, in front of the proudly upright figure of Hadji Dimitar, close to the temple, on the quiet cobblestone streets, that kept the atmosphere of the long distant time.

The book takes us back to the Bulgarian Revival and follows the fate of two national revolutionists and their vicissitudes with the detachment of Dimitar Obshti before and after the robbery of the Ottoman postal convoy in the Arabakonak Pass that led to the failure of the revolutionary organization. It is a new artistic interpretation of the national revolution, on a topic in which Botev, Vazov and Zaharii Stoyanov have created their masterpieces. As much as we think that they had said everything already, Milen Ruskov shows that he can just say "more" and "more".

For us, the citizens of Sliven, the novel "Summit" is interesting also with the descriptions and the surroundings of Sliven that it presents, of Kotel, Medven and other villages in our region, with its references to "The Fish Primer" by Petar Beron, who according to the author inspired him to write this book, to "A Traveller in the Woods" by Georgi Sava Rakovski, to the works of Neofit Bozveli and Paisii Hilendarski, with its entertaining stories about the activities of prominent Renaissance figures like Sava Dobroplodni and others eminent figures.

The book is unique in many ways, but perhaps most impressive is the language in which it is written - Bulgarian language from the time of the Revival, released by strict rules. The first pages are real linguistic shock for the readers with their archaic and natural expression, but the feeling of strangeness disappears rapidly and the novel can be read in a breath, reading it is a pleasure. Perhaps the reasons for this are the filled with cheerful humor and self-irony vicissitudes of the two main characters. Furthermore, the wording is simple, at the expense of deep meaning that makes easy to assimilate author’s "moralities".

The novel "Summit" was presented to the audience with a solo performance of selected excerpts of the novel by the famous actor and director from Burgas Hristo Simeonov. He also read a letter from the publisher Bojana Apostolova, in which she shared that: "This is the most talented, most valuable contemporary Bulgarian novel, which has not been published in the last 50-60 years! Such a novel would be an honor for any national literature in the world ".

After a thrilling performance and the emotional letter of Bojana Apostolova the writer Milen Ruskov told the story of the writing of his novel "Summit": how the idea for it appeared, what provoked his creative efforts, how and how much time he has worked with historical facts and written sources, how he achieved the authenticity of the language of the time of Revival.

Milen Ruskov said that the first reader and critic of the novel was Svetozar Igov, and Bojana Apostolova help the book to be published - "for years, despite the widespread crisis in our society, she stands behind literary experimentation and innovation views on content, form and language of a number of famous writers in the modern Bulgarian literature " and he is happy to be among the authors who received her support.

         To Mrs. Rosica Petrova, director of  "Sava Dobroplodno" Regional library Ruskov shared that he was pleasantly surprised by the activity of his fans in Sliven and that the presentation of his book in Sliven has undergone in the most emotional and exciting way.

         About the success of Milen Ruskov’s book speaks the fact that even before its premiere all 40 copies brought from the publisher were sold, and that about an hour after meeting the writer signed autographs for his fans and answered their questions.

         For the organizers of the premiere remained the satisfaction that they made their fellow citizens happy with this gift for Saint Dimitar’s Day – the meeting with the talented writer Milen Ruskov and his new book.