What's great about symbols, what a writer can do with them is provide a really vivid, interesting image, and the reader will do the rest of the work. That's always been very interesting to me. Like if I just introduce… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
Helpful to me over the years was some of Ernest Hemingway's writing, for example A Farewell to Arms. You have characters who speak Italian… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
The clash of religion. We've had to coexist for hundreds of years in Bulgaria, in the Balkans, and we still don't get along. It's… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
I don't find English restrictive, but it brings a level of discipline to my writing that I wouldn't have in Bulgarian. My control of… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
I'm interested in the way our world is defined by language, the living word. How restrained we are by the concept of language, but… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
I have done literary translation because the University of Arkansas, where I did my MFA, was program of creative writing and translation, and it's… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
When I was writing in Bulgarian, I could hide behind beautiful prose. — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
“Of course she loved the komita more -- he must have been her sweetheart, her first big love. Most likely, they made plans together,… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
“You'll never live to be as old as me,", he said. "Whatever you think of doing, I've already done it. Wherever you think of… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
I'm a big believer in the collective unconscious. The idea that there is a deep connection between all of us that goes back to… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
One of the things people often say about America is that it's a such a young country, relatively, and its problem - Europeans say… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
All these wars, all these territories. For example, Macedonia is a disputed territory, and there are people directly to the west of Bulgaria who… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
The problem is we bear grudges that go a thousand years into the past. Really, I could find people who begrudge the Greeks for… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
I was really interested in the ritual of fire dancing. I saw it when I was a kid. My parents took me to the… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
In Bulgarian I am much more flowery, the sentences are wilder. In English out of necessity I try to be clear and disciplined. I… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
I never wanted to write about Bulgaria. When I was still living there I did my absolute best to never write a story with… — Miroslav Penkov Copy Share Image
