Miroslav Penkov is a Bulgarian

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

who writes in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and Bulgarian. He was born in

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( ) is a city in central northern Bulgaria, the Local government, administrative centre of Gabrovo Province.It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an international ca ...

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 1982, lived 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 ...

for fourteen years and in 2001, at the age of 18, moved to the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

. He studied for a bachelor's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in creative writing at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

. He is a professor of creative writing at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

. His stories have been translated in over twenty languages and have appeared in ''

A Public Space A Public Space is an independent nonprofit publisher of an eponymous literary and arts magazine and book imprint. The organization's magazine, ''A Public Space'', is a triannual, English-language literary journal based in Brooklyn, New York. Fi ...

'', ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

One Story ''One Story'' is a literary magazine which publishes 12 issues a year, each issue containing a single short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained inciden ...

The Southern Review ''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes ficti ...

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

The Best American Short Stories 2008 ''The Best American Short Stories 2008'', a volume in ''The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Heidi Pitlor and by guest editor Salman Rushdie.Pitor, Heidi and Rushdie, Salman (editors), ''The Best American Short Stories 2008'' H ...

(edited by

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

), The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012 and

The Best American Nonrequired Reading ''The Best American Nonrequired Reading'' was a yearly anthology of fiction and nonfiction selected annually by high school students in California and Michigan through 826 Valencia and 826michigan. The volume was part of ''The Best American Serie ...

2013.''

Early life

When he was four years old, his family moved to Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria. He spent fourteen years in Sofia, where he graduated from the First English Language High School.

Awards and honors

In 2007, his short story "Buying Lenin" won '' The Southern Review's'' Eudora Welty Prize in Fiction. Later, Salman Rushdie included "Buying Lenin" in ''The Best American Short Stories 2008''. In 2012, his story "East of the West" won the BBC International Short Story Award. In the US, the story was anthologized in the ''PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012'' and ''The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2013''. In 2014, Penkov was selected as a protégé by mentor

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...

as part of the

Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative is a philanthropic programme by Swiss watchmaker Rolex that pairs gifted young artists with internationally recognized masters in architecture, dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual arts ...

, an international philanthropic program that pairs masters in their disciplines with emerging talents for a year of one-to-one creative exchange. His debut story collection ''East of the West'' (

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

2011) has been published in seventeen countries. It was a finalist for the 2012 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing and the Steven Turner Award for First Fiction by the Texas Institute of Letters. In 2016, FSG published his novel ''Stork Mountain'', which appeared in Bulgaria under the title "Щъркелите и планината" (Ciela 2016). Penkov's short story "A Picture with Yuki" was adapted into a feature film of the same title. A Bulgarian-Japanese production, the film was directed by Lachezar Avramov and starred Rushi Vidinliev, Kiki Sugino, Dimiter Marinov, and Bulgarian boxing legend

Serafim Todorov Serafim Simeonov Todorov (; born 6 July 1969) is a former Bulgarian Olympic boxer. He won three consecutive gold medals at both the World and European Championships, and silver at the 1996 Olympics. He is the last boxer to defeat Floyd Mayweath ...

Works

*''East of the West: A Country in Stories'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011 (US, first edition). *''Stork Mountain: A Novel'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016 (US, first edition).

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penkov, Miroslav Living people 1982 births Bulgarian male writers American short story writers People from Gabrovo Bulgarian expatriates in the United States