A Biographical Note
The Bulgarian poet and translator Zdravko Kissiov was born on January 1, 1937 in the town of Zavet, Razgrad Region, but almost his whole life is connected to Rousse. A leading figure in the group of the 「Angry young poets」 in Rousse from the early 60s of the twentieth century and author of the program text of 「The Poetic Symbol of Creed」 of the Angry poets (December 1962). He was vice-president of the Club of Cultural Figures in Rousse, founder and first president of the Association of Writers in Rousse since its creation in 1976 until 1991, one of the founders of the Regional Television Centre of BNT in Rousse, where he worked as editor. From 1982 to 1991 he was editor of the literary almanac 「Svetlostruy」 (The Light-Streamed Spring). Since 1970 he was a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers, and since 1974 — a member of the Union of Translators in Bulgaria. A member of the editorial board of the international multilingual magazine for South-eastern European spirituality and culture 「Carmina Balcanica,」 since its establishment in Romania in 2008.
Author of twenty books (predominantly poetry) and translator of more than twenty books. He was an active translator, mainly of poets from Poland and the Baltic countries. His poems have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Serbian, Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Chuvash … Zdravko Kissiov’s books are in the greatest libraries of the world, such as the British library in London, the Library of Congress in Washington, the university libraries at Oxford, Harvard and many others. He has participated in numerous international literary forums and was honoured with high Bulgarian and foreign awards and prizes.
Zdravko Kissiov died on January 23, 2015 in Rousse.
Bibliography
* Revelation. Poems. Varna, Georgi Bakalov Publishers 1962.
* Monologues. Poems. Varna, Georgi Bakalov Publishers, 1966.
* An Invite for a Song. Poems. Sofia, 「People’s Youth」, 1972.
* Balladic Hour. Poems. Sofia, Profizdat, 1974.
* Internal Landscape. Poems. Sofia, 「Bulgarian writer」, 1976.
* Still Dreaming of a Hill. Lyric poetry. Varna, Georgi Bakalov Publishers, 1976.
* Between Salty and Fresh Water. Travelogue about Latvia. Sofia, ed. “People’s Youth”, 1977.
* Necessary Pain. Poems. Plovdiv, 「Hristo G. Danov」, 1978.
* Wingless Angels. Lyrics. Sofia, 「Bulgarian writer”, 1981.
* Residence. Poems. Plovdiv, 「Hristo G. Danov」, 1982.
* Vision. Poems. Sofia, 「Bulgarian writer」, 1984.
* A Distinguishing Feature. Selected poems. Sofia, 「People’s Youth」, 1985.
* Breath. Selected poems. Sofia, 「Bulgarian writer」, 1987.
* Cryptography. Love poetry. Varna, Georgi Bakalov Publishers, 1987.
* Evidence. Poems. Plovdiv, 「Hristo G. Danov」, 1990.
* Daily Crucifixes. Poetry. Sofia, 「Hristo Botev」, 1995.
* Canon. Selected poems. Rousse, 「Avangard print」, 2002.
* A Heavenly Voice. Poems. Rousse, 「Avangard print」 2002.
* Reversed Time. Selected poems. Sofia, ed. “Bulgarian writer”, 2007.
* Reflections. Rousse, 「Avangard print」 edition 2015. Posthumously.
* Beyond Time. Recent poems. Sofia, ed. “Ergo”, 2017. Posthumously edition. Compilation, preface, pictures and layout Roman Kissiov.
In other languages
* Kisjovs, Zdravko: Laiks milet. No bulgaru valodas atdzejojusi Ojars Vacietis un Imants Ziedonis, Riga, Liesma, 1978. (in Latvian)
* Kisjovs, Zdravko: Starp salo udeni un saldudeni. No bulgaru valodas tulkojis Vinifreds Kraucis. Riga, Liesma, 1980. (in Latvian)
* Kisiow, Zdrawko: Czystopis. Przelozyl Wojciech Galazka. Krakow, Miniatura, 2007. (in Polish)
