Ilija Trojanow (Bulgarian: Илия Троянов, also transliterated as Ilya Troyanov; born 23 August 1965 in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

) is a Bulgarian–German writer, translator and publisher.

Life and literary career

Trojanow was born in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in 1965. In 1971 his family fled Bulgaria through Yugoslavia and Italy to Germany, where they received political asylum. In 1972 the family travelled on to Kenya, where Ilija's father had obtained a job as engineer. With one interruption from 1977 to 1981, Ilija Trojanow lived in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

until 1984, and attended the German School Nairobi. After a stay in Paris, he studied law and

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

from 1985 to 1989. He interrupted these studies to found Kyrill-und-Method-Verlag in 1989, and after that Marino-Verlag in 1992, both of which specialised in African literature. In 1999 Trojanow moved to Mumbai and became intensely involved with Indian life and culture. He has lived in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, returned to Germany (Mainz), and then to Austria, where he currently resides in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In the 1990s Trojanow wrote several non-fiction and travel books about Africa, published an anthology of contemporary African literature and translated African authors into German. His first novel, "''Die Welt ist groß und Rettung lauert überall''", appeared in 1996. In it he recounts his family's experiences as political refugees and

asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...

. After that appeared the science fiction novel "''Autopol''", created on the Internet as a "novel in progress," "''Hundezeiten''", a travel account of a visit to his Bulgarian homeland, and books dealing with his experiences in India. His reportage "''Zu den heiligen Quellen des Islam''" describes a pilgrimage to Mecca. Since 2002 Ilija Trojanow has been member of the PEN centre of the Federal Republic of Germany. Among other awards he received the Bertelsmann Literature Prize at the

Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (; 25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. She is regarded as one of the major voices of German-language literature in the 20th century. In 1963, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature b ...

competition in Klagenfurt in 1995, the Marburg Literature Prize in 1996, the Thomas Valentin Prize in 1997, the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 2000 and the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in the category of fiction for his novel "''Der Weltensammler''". Published in English as ''The Collector of Worlds'' in 2006, this novel was inspired by the

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

and travel writings of British colonial officer

Richard Francis Burton Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Royal Geographical Society#Fellowship, FRGS, (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, army officer, orien ...

, some of whose travels Trojanow followed to places in present-day India, Saudi Arabia or Tanzania. In 2014, Trojanow participated in the writer in residence programme of the one world foundation in Sri Lanka.

Miscellaneous

In 2013, Trojanow, who has also written on

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

of citizens by government agencies in Germany, had criticized the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

(NSA). In the same year, he was denied entry into the US for undisclosed reasons. He planned to attend an academic conference.Einreiseverbot für Ilija Trojanow: Willkür und Freiheit
''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

''. 1 October 2013 Upon intervention by representatives of the P.E.N. and the German cultural institution

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

, he could finally travel to New York at the end of 2013.

Works

*''In Afrika'', Munich, 1993 (with Michael Martin) *''Naturwunder Ostafrika'', Munich, 1994 (with Michael Martin) *''Hüter der Sonne'' (''Custodians of the Sun''), Munich, 1996 (with Chenjerai Hove) *''Kenia mit Nordtansania'', Munich, 1996 *''Die Welt ist groß und Rettung lauert überall'', Munich, 1996 *''Autopol'', Munich, 1997 *''Zimbabwe'', Munich, 1998 *''Hundezeiten'', Munich, 1999 *''Der Sadhu an der Teufelswand'', Munich, 2001 *''An den inneren Ufern Indiens'' (
Along the Ganges
'), Munich, 2003 *''Zu den heiligen Quellen des Islam'' (''Mumbai to Mecca''), Munich, 2004 *''Der Weltensammler'' (''The Collector of Worlds''), Munich, 2006 *''Indien. Land des kleinen Glücks'', Cadolzburg, 2006 *''Gebrauchsanweisung für Indien'', Munich, 2006 *''Die fingierte Revolution. Bulgarien, eine exemplarische Geschichte'', Munich, 2006 *''Nomade auf vier Kontinenten'', Frankfurt, 2007 *''Kampfabsage. Kulturen bekämpfen sich nicht – sie fließen zusammen'', Munich, 2007 (with

Ranjit Hoskote Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sah ...

) *''Der entfesselte Globus'', Munich, 2008 *''Sehnsucht'', Freiburg, 2008 (edited by Fatma Sagir) * ''Kumbh Mela. Das größte Fest der Welt'', München 2008 (photographs by Thomas Dorn) * '' Angriff auf die Freiheit. Sicherheitswahn, Überwachungsstaat und der Abbau bürgerlicher Rechte'', Munich 2009 (with

Juli Zeh Juli Zeh (, Julia Barbara Finck, née Zeh; born 30 June 1974) is a German writer and judge. She is known for novels such as '' The Method'' (2009), '' Unterleuten'' (2016) and '' About People'' (2021). Early life and education Juli Zeh is the da ...

) * ''EisTau'', Munich, 2011 (novel) * ''Die Versuchungen der Fremde: Unterwegs in Arabien, Indien und Afrika'', Munich, 2011 * ''Confluences: Forgotten Histories From East And West'' (co-authored with

), New Delhi, Yoda Press 2012 * ''Der überflüssige Mensch'' (

'), Salzburg, 2013 * ''Macht und Widerstand'', Frankfurt am Main 2015 * ''Meine Olympiade'', Frankfurt am Main, 2016 * ''Nach der Flucht'', Frankfurt am Main, 2017 * ''Doppelte Spur'', Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 2020,

English translations

*''Custodians of the Sun'' *''Along the Ganges'', translation by

, Penguin Books India & Haus Publishing, 2005 *''Mumbai to Mecca'', London, 2007, Haus Publishing *''The Collector of Worlds'', London, 2008 *''The Lamentations of Zeno'', translation by Philip Boehm of ''Eis Tau'', Verso Books, New York, 2016

Publishing

*''Afrikanissimo'', Wuppertal, 1991 (with Peter Ripken) *''Das Huhn das schreit gehört dem Fremden'' (''The screaming Chicken belongs to the Stranger''), Munich, 1998 *''Döner in Walhalla'' (''Doner in Valhalla''), Cologne, 2000 *''Die Welt des Ryszard Kapuściński. Seine besten Geschichten und Reportagen'', Frankfurt, 2007 *''Egon Erwin Kisch. Die schönsten Geschichten und Reportagen'', Berlin, 2008

Translations into German

*''Sobornost. Kirche, Bibel, Tradition'' (''Bible, church, tradition'') by Georgij V. Florovskij, Munich 1989 *''Der Berg am Rande des Himmels'' (''The Mountain on the Edge of the Sky'') by Timothy Wangusa, Munich, 1989 *''Knochen'' (''Bones'') by

Chenjerai Hove Chenjerai Hove (9 February 1956 – 12 July 2015), was a Zimbabwean poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both English and Shona. "Modernist in their formal construction, but making extensive use of oral conventions, Hove's novels offer an i ...

, Munich, 1990 *''Der Preis der Freiheit'' (''The Price of Freedom'') by Tsitsi Dangarembga, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1991 *''Buckingham Palace'' (''Buckingham Palace, district six'') by Richard Rive, Munich 1994 *''Die Sklaverei der Gewürze'' by Shafi Adam Shafi, Munich 1997 *''Der letzte Ausweis'' (''Identity card'') by F. M. Esfandiary, Frankfurt, 2009

Film adaptations

*'' The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner'', 2007, directed by Stefan Komandarev with Miki Manojlovic as Bai Dan and Carlo Ljubek as Alexander

References

External links

Literature by and about Ilija Trojanow
(in German) in the catalogue of the DDB, or

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

Biography, Lettre Ulysses Award jury member
(in English)

on Trojanov's novel of the same name, at signandsight.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trojanow, Ilija 1965 births Living people Bulgarian emigrants to Germany Translators to German Writers from Sofia Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Bulgarian translators People denied entry to the United States German male writers