Joanna Elmy is a Bulgarian-born writer and journalist. She is among Bulgaria's most prominent young literary voices. Her debut novel, written during her years in university, received the most prestigious Bulgarian prize for emerging literature in 2022 and was shortlisted for several other national awards.Angela Rodel is an American-born literary translator and executive director of the Bulgarian Fulbright Commission. Rodel won the International Booker Prize for her translation of Georgi Gospodinov's novel Time Shelter.

'I am calm only when alone. That's what my mother used to say. As a child I hated her for this because it meant I shouldn't have existed. Now I'm frightened by how much I understand her.''I finally took an oath to never listen to these women, to do the exact opposite of what they had done. If they had followed their own advice and were this unhappy, something must be wrong. Their complacency filled me with terrible fear. I rejected them, I refused them their right to live inside me.'

Joanna Elmy is a Bulgarian-born writer and journalist. She is among Bulgaria's most prominent young literary voices. Her debut novel, written during her years in university, received the most prestigious Bulgarian prize for emerging literature in 2022 and was shortlisted for several other national awards.Angela Rodel is an American-born literary translator and executive director of the Bulgarian Fulbright Commission. Rodel won the International Booker Prize for her translation of Georgi Gospodinov's novel Time Shelter.

'I am calm only when alone. That's what my mother used to say. As a child I hated her for this because it meant I shouldn't have existed. Now I'm frightened by how much I understand her.''I finally took an oath to never listen to these women, to do the exact opposite of what they had done. If they had followed their own advice and were this unhappy, something must be wrong. Their complacency filled me with terrible fear. I rejected them, I refused them their right to live inside me.'

Joanna Elmy is a Bulgarian-born writer and journalist. She is among Bulgaria's most prominent young literary voices. Her debut novel, written during her years in university, received the most prestigious Bulgarian prize for emerging literature in 2022 and was shortlisted for several other national awards.Angela Rodel is an American-born literary translator and executive director of the Bulgarian Fulbright Commission. Rodel won the International Booker Prize for her translation of Georgi Gospodinov's novel Time Shelter.

'I am calm only when alone. That's what my mother used to say. As a child I hated her for this because it meant I shouldn't have existed. Now I'm frightened by how much I understand her.''I finally took an oath to never listen to these women, to do the exact opposite of what they had done. If they had followed their own advice and were this unhappy, something must be wrong. Their complacency filled me with terrible fear. I rejected them, I refused them their right to live inside me.'