“Georgi Gospodinov is unique in many ways. I’ve been reading him since the beginning and I know that no one can combine an intriguing concept, wonderful imagination, and perfect writing technique like he can.”
—Olga Tokarczuk
The Harriman Institute takes great pleasure in welcoming writer, poet, and playwright Georgi Gospodinov to Columbia. The New Yorker’s Garth Greenwell has described him as a “trickster at heart, and often very funny,” while Dave Eggers has called him “one of Europe’s most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists.” Gospodinov’s second novel The Physics of Sorrow (Open Letter, 2011), shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize, reaffirmed Gospodinov’s place as one of Europe’s most inventive and daring writers. The book garnered him the Angelus Central European Literature Award and the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature and was a finalist for prizes in Italy and Germany. Time Shelter, Gospodinov’s third novel, was published earlier this year to great acclaim. The Guardian’s reviewer of Time Shelter writes: “From communism to the Brexit referendum and conflict in Europe, this funny yet frightening Bulgarian novel explores the weaponization of nostalgia.”
Public appearances during his residency include events at the New York Public Library (September 7), where he was a Cullman Center Fellow in 2017-18, and the Harriman Institute on September 28—both events will feature the writer in conversation with Harriman Director Valentina Izmirlieva. In addition, Mr. Gospodinov will teach a 4-week graduate seminar on “Reading Childhood, Writing Childhood: The East European Case” (GR6102).
Photo by Kostadin Krustev
“Georgi Gospodinov is unique in many ways. I’ve been reading him since the beginning and I know that no one can combine an intriguing concept, wonderful imagination, and perfect writing technique like he can.”
—Olga Tokarczuk
The Harriman Institute takes great pleasure in welcoming writer, poet, and playwright Georgi Gospodinov to Columbia. The New Yorker’s Garth Greenwell has described him as a “trickster at heart, and often very funny,” while Dave Eggers has called him “one of Europe’s most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists.” Gospodinov’s second novel The Physics of Sorrow (Open Letter, 2011), shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize, reaffirmed Gospodinov’s place as one of Europe’s most inventive and daring writers. The book garnered him the Angelus Central European Literature Award and the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature and was a finalist for prizes in Italy and Germany. Time Shelter, Gospodinov’s third novel, was published earlier this year to great acclaim. The Guardian’s reviewer of Time Shelter writes: “From communism to the Brexit referendum and conflict in Europe, this funny yet frightening Bulgarian novel explores the weaponization of nostalgia.”
Public appearances during his residency include events at the New York Public Library (September 7), where he was a Cullman Center Fellow in 2017-18, and the Harriman Institute on September 28—both events will feature the writer in conversation with Harriman Director Valentina Izmirlieva. In addition, Mr. Gospodinov will teach a 4-week graduate seminar on “Reading Childhood, Writing Childhood: The East European Case” (GR6102).
Photo by Kostadin Krustev
