Writer Georgi Gospodinov, a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris. Corresponding Member Gospodinov was honored for his contribution to European and world literature. The ceremony took place at the INALCO building in Paris on March 30. “Telling stories, writing books, and translating books is part of saving the world. Because it saves the human in us. And from there, it saves life itself,” said Georgi Gospodinov in his speech at the ceremony.
At the ceremonial presentation of the Bulgarian writer, Marie Vrinat-Nikolov, a longtime translator and professor of Bulgarian language and literature at INALCO, described Gospodinov’s contribution to world literature and the deeply human ideas behind his books. “Your work is shifting the boundaries of the Bulgarian literary landscape. By becoming part of world literature thanks to its translations across all continents, it transcends the dichotomy of ‘local’ versus ‘universal,’ ‘center’ / ‘periphery’ and demonstrates that situated literature creates an imaginary world and language that can be read, translated, and shared, entering into dialogue with numerous texts from world literature,” said Marie Vrinat-Nikolov in her speech on Gospodinov’s work.
The Bulgarian writer’s success in France began with the translation of “Natural Novel” by Marie Vrinat published 25 years ago. The French-language edition of “The Physics of Sorrow” won the “Jan Michalski” Prize, and the French translation of the poetry collection “Where We Are Not” received the prestigious “Mallarmé” Prize for foreign-language poetry two years ago. Gospodinov is a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.
The National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) is a higher education institution founded in 1669 (357 years ago). The institute offers programs in 104 languages from Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania.
