All the teachers of the Bulgarian language encouraged me by reading my works in front of the class. Because of the sixes in literature, I was exempted from matriculation. However, in my time, every Bulgarian citizen, even a minor, had a "Characteristic".
Mine said I was a child of bourgeois descent, of French blood, and my future in the country of my birth was a windowless tunnel. Second pioneer group. Second Komsomol group. 24 months of compulsory labor. A second group of people?! Well, not comrades! Sorry, but you will be building without me. I refused to march and shout "Long live". I refused inequality. Being chased because of my background. I refused to crawl and die before I was born. As a person and a citizen.
I have been living in Paris since 1968. The first thing I learned is that the French respect people who say "no"! I continued to write. And I never stopped writing. I was offered to be a speaker in BBC and Free Europe. I refused! I did not accept to receive a salary to criticize the totalitarian system. I refused, but Georgi Markov accepted. I have not stopped criticizing, and not only criticism. With my convictions and with my personal means, I helped the political emigration, despite the fact that I am not an emigrant.
I came back in 1991 and my first impression was that the media published people without biographies. In the parliament - also. To this day. Well, if only it were - some will say. Well, if that is the will of the people, I bow to the majority. I continued to write and publish. And I was showered with questions. Who is this? Where will someone from abroad give us wisdom? Who is behind it? This one is paid! It has been implemented! We know them, who stayed in Paris during the time when we were starving because of Jean Videnov and Andrey Lukanov.
What should I do? To pretend to be repressed like many others? Anastasia Moser and her lover Ivan Kostov - were they repressed? Did they dig you "on a lamp" - Second blast furnace in Kremikovtsi? TPP Varna or Neftohim? Were they arrested and interrogated at Moskovska St. 5?
Apparently the totalitarian system is not important for the new Bulgarian capitalists. Then why should I waste my time with anyone who explains to me that crossing a border is not run as I describe it? I don't have time. It will take me three hundred years to convince and open my eyes.
Every book and every author has its story. Friends introduced me to a brave publisher - Lyuben Kozarev, who said: "You write things that are unknown!" and issued a "Return Ticket". The book contains 40 biographical stories that no current Bulgarian writer has. First person singular. All my colleagues publish novels, science fiction, political prose or memoirs, but only from the Bulgarian reality.
Biographical experiences in the Western Hemisphere, which will boost the self-esteem of every Bulgarian - not available on the book market. And at least half of my stories become novels. Before writing them, I thought I should first acquaint the readers with where and how I left and why I returned. No passport and no ticket!
I write fun, sometimes with humor, some say - fascinating. With facts and names!
On Thursday evening at 7 p.m. I will welcome readers at the stand of the "East-West" publishing house. in the salon of the book in the NDK.